The internal mechanisms of entrepreneurs’ social capitalA multi-network analysis

  1. Carlos Hernández-Carrión 1
  2. Carmen Camarero-Izquierdo 1
  3. Jesús Gutiérrez-Cillán 1
  1. 1 University of Valladolid, Spain
Journal:
Business Research Quarterly

ISSN: 2340-9444,  2340-9436

Year of publication: 2020

Volume: 23

Issue: 1

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1177/2340944420901047 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Business Research Quarterly

Related Projects

INNOVACIÓN ABIERTA Y ÉXITO EMPRESARIAL:LÍNEAS DE COLABORACIÓN EXTERNA PARA LA CO-CREACIÓN DE VALOR

2018/00100/001

Abstract

The present work addresses how and to what extent the personal and professional relationship networks of small-scale local entrepreneurs help improve their scarce resource endowments. Adopting a mechanistic and functioning oriented view of social capital, the paper suggests the existence of two different mechanisms which may explain the enrichment and entrepreneurial exploitation processes of social capital’s resources: (1) the resource mechanism, based on a network’s size and diversity, providing quantity and variety of social capital resources, and (2) the exchange mechanism, based on a network’s cohesion and relational quality, favouring the interchangeability of these resources among network members. The empirical study individually explores both the personal and professional networks of 958 Spanish entrepreneurs. Findings reveal how the two mechanisms are necessary and mutually complementary, although the resource mechanism proves more advantageous when exploiting personal networks, whereas the exchange mechanism prevails in the case of professional networks.

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Funding information

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this study by the Regional Government of Castilla y León (Junta de Castilla y León) (Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [project reference VA085G18 and VA112P17] and by the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness (Spain) [project reference ECO2017-86628-P].

Funders

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