The Influence of Changes in Social Capital on Firm–Founding Activities (original) (raw)

Social Capital in Knowledge Intensive Start-Ups

About a decade ago suggested that success for start-ups not only depends on who you are but also on whom you know. Around the mid-90s research results were published showing that essential resources for start-ups were in fact acquired through the entrepreneurs' social networks including family, friends, pre-existing work relations, and affiliation with various societies . To study these aspects of social capital in relation to entrepreneurial activities, research in a Danish start-up context in two knowledgeintensive sectors has been carried out. The research methodology was based on a triangulation approach including a general questionnaire-based survey conducted through the Internet as well as a number of in-depth interviews in purposefully sampled ventures. The results provide an analysis of the content and structure of social capital in relation to entrepreneurial activities in new technology based small firms showing that teams are primarily composed of 'trusted alters' and networking patterns are highly influenced by the entrepreneur's attitude to and perception of networking.

Effects of Social Capital on Start-up Outcomes

2019

This thesis explores the effects of social capital on start-up outcomes. Entrepreneurs' ability to access and utilise social capital, through bonding and bridging relationships of various types, facilitated by trust, is essential to the success of their startups. This study identifies and differentiates two key forms of bonding, surfacing tribal bonding as a new concept distinct from bonding as traditionally recognised. Traditional bonding depends on developing ties and trust over time, while tribal bonding is built on individuals' inherent desire to contribute towards the value of the group. Tribal bonding requires less time than traditional bonding to develop relationships, results in reduced monitoring, and facilitates faster tacit knowledge transfer; all of these factors reduce costs relative to traditional bonding. Particularly during the start-up stage, reduced cost and faster decision making are crucial for entrepreneurs, who are typically short on cash and time as their ventures have not started generating revenues or profits. Abductive reasoninga back-and-forth approach directed by theory juxtaposed with dataenabled the discovery of tribal bonding social capital, a previously unidentified form with features differing from those of bonding as traditionally conceived. Abductive reasoning further divided people who affect start-ups into two broad groups: those who affect supply and those who affect demand. The Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method, based on set theory, enabled examination of tribal bonding alongside traditional bonding, bridging, and trust. QCA identified multiple pathways to start-up outcome. The identified pathways were categorised into two major approaches, one reliant on traditional bonding and the other on tribal bonding. This study contributes to theory through the separation of tribal bonding and traditional bonding, leading to the creation of a conceptual model indicating the relative cost implications of engaging the two types of bonding as well as a framework that differentiates the impacts of groups that affect supply from groups that affect demand. The methodological accomplishments of this study include the successful combination of abduction and retroduction, incorporating QCA to examine the effects of tribal bonding on start-up outcomes. From a practical perspective, the derived model and framework may guide practitioners regarding how to optimally mix their interactions with various types of groups affecting start-ups, including (but not limited to) how to access required resources at the lowest cost.

The Effect of Social Capital of Entrepreneurs in Entrepreneurial Process

2019

Abstract. when many entrepreneurial processes framework identify the role of networking as important part at the start-up development stage, this study have extended the concept of networking and embraced it in the concept of individual social capital of entrepreneurs. However, much of literature on measuring social capital has focused on the quantity of social capital rather than quality made by it. This study will focus and seek to expand the depth and richness of social capital during new venture creation and later identifying the effect of individual social capital in entrepreneurial process. to expand and specify the richness of individual social capital during venture creation, Timmons Model of Entrepreneurial process are used. It considers opportunity, team, and resources as three components for successful new business, and later associate it with Bonding and Bridging and Linking Social Capital of Entrepreneur. The research is mainly expected to provide insight for the busine...

The role of social capital in the process of becoming an entrepreneur and in entrepreneurial success

Belvedere Meridionale, 2016

Th e network approach plays an important role in the sociological study of enterprises and of the process of becoming an entrepreneur. In our analysis we examine the role of social relations in the setup process of enterprises by the aid of a questionnaire survey of 3,021 respondents representative of the adult population of Transylvanian small towns, and the impact of networks on business success based on the results of a questionnaire survey of 1,005 companies representative of Transylvanian small and medium-sized enterprises. Th e conclusion of our study is that social network as a resource is much more important during the setting up of an enterprise, whereas in the case of already established, operating enterprises its contribution to entrepreneurial success is less signifi cant.

The role of social capital in fostering entrepreneurship in established organizations

2009

This study investigates social behavior of employees and its effect on entrepreneurial activities. Social capital is a strategic resource available through the network of relationships may be exploited in the direction of organizational and individual objectives. The study posited that this powerful asset may be leveraged in fostering entrepreneurial orientation of employees, which is an antecedent for improving the performance. A developed survey was sent to a selected sample of academic staff in five public univer sities in Victoria. The collected data were subject to statistical analysis and the result was derived. The findings indicated that there is a positive and significant relationship between social behavior and entrepreneurial orientation of academics. The predictability of entrepreneurial activities by social relationships was tested.

Social capital of entrepreneurs and small firm performance: A meta-analysis of contextual and methodological moderators

Despite a surge of studies examining the role of social capital in the entrepreneurial process, no quantitative assessments exist of the empirical evidence to date. To resolve seemingly conflicting results, we conducted a meta-analysis of the link between entrepreneurs' personal networks and small firm performance and identify new moderators affecting this relationship. Analyses of 61 independent samples indicated that the social capital-performance link was positive and significant (r c =.211). Effect sizes of weak ties were smaller than those of structural holes, while network diversity had the largest positive effect on performance. Results also showed that the social capital-performance link depends on the age of small firms, the industry and institutional contexts in which they operate, and on the specific network or performance measures used. Based on these findings, we develop recommendations for future research on the contingent value of social capital for small firms.

Entrepreneur Network Behavior as the Gamechanger for Venture Performance : the Mediation Effect of Social Capital and Tacit Knowledge

International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 2020

The individual characteristics continue to set apart who a successful or failed entrepreneurs and business ventures are in the business environment. The study therefore sought to investigate network behavior mechanism as a gamechanger for venture performance; the mediation effect of social capital and tacit knowledge. Entrepreneurs here were regarded as individuals who created their businesses and therefore respondents other than owners were not included in the study population. In total, 530 entrepreneurs were selected from three cities in Jiangsu Province. Purposive, convenient and simple random sampling techniques were applied in choosing the respondents. 410 completed questionnaires were retrieved. The results show that entrepreneurs engaging in network building attitude, network maintenance and network orientation determined their network behaviour. Network behaviour then positively and directly influences venture performance. This effect was significant showing that any effort or activities that lead to network behavior wield a corresponding effect on startups business performance. The results indicated that social capital mediated the relationship such that entrepreneur network behavior indirectly influences venture performance. Tacit knowledge acquisition was shown to boosts network behaviour effect on venture performance. This study departs from the psychological perspective which mainly focus on stable features of the entrepreneur to include the behaviour mechanisms hence makes the study central to better understand the entrepreneurial behavior and performance relationships.

Social Capital and Entrepreneurship

Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship, 2005

Section 1 Introduction 1.1 Why do people need networking help? 1.2 Socio-cultural constraints on social networks Section 2 Observation 1: Social networks tend toward homogeneity, not diversity 2.1 Relational homogeneity and diversity in entrepreneurial networks: two concepts 2.1.1 Small world networks 2.1.2 Affiliation networks 2.2 Summary Section 3 Observation 2: Not all relationships are the same 3.1 Variations in the strength of social ties 3.1.1 Dimensions of tie strength 3.1.2 Tie strength within groups v