How Do Different Types of Entrepreneurial Networks and Decision-Making Influence the Identification of Entrepreneurial Opportunities?

Abstract

Entrepreneurial networks are important for the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities and development in the context of social media. This exploratory research investigates the relationships in entrepreneurial networks, by considering decision-making, and entrepreneurial opportunities, and focusing on the role of decision-making in the relationship between entrepreneurial networks and entrepreneurial opportunities. Using data from 512 Chinese entrepreneurial firms, hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modeling are employed to create a mediation model that links entrepreneurial networks to entrepreneurial opportunities through decision-making. Our findings are as follows: (1) heterogeneous networks are positively related to innovative opportunities, and homogeneous networks are positively related to imitative opportunities; (2) heterogeneous networks positively affect non-linear decision-making (non-linear DM) while homogeneous networks positively influence linear decision-making (linear DM); (3) positive relationships exist between non-linear DM and innovative opportunities and between linear DM and imitative opportunities; and (4) non-linear DM fully mediates between heterogeneous networks and innovative opportunities, and linear DM partially mediates between homogeneous networks and imitative opportunities. This paper contributes to literature on entrepreneurship by broadening understanding of the mechanisms of entrepreneurial opportunity formation in emerging markets and provides important insights for entrepreneurs and policymakers.

Why Do People Who Belong to the Same Clan Engage in the Same Entrepreneurial Activities?—A Case Study on the Influence of Clan Networks on the Content of Farmers’ Entrepreneurship

“…Many scholars have argued that high-quality entrepreneurial networks help entrepreneurs identify potential opportunities (Davidsson, 2015). Yu et al (2021) found that heterogeneous networks are positively related to innovative opportunities, and homogeneous networks are positively related to imitative opportunities. Clans are highly important institutions since they facilitate cooperation (Greif and Tabellini, 2017).…”

Intuition as Emergence: Bridging Psychology, Philosophy and Organizational Science

“…So the article has formed the basis of a number of subsequent influential literature reviews, conceptual contributions, and methodological and empirical works; drawing from it, scholars have differentiated intuition from related constructs (Hodgkinson et al, 2008(Hodgkinson et al, , 2009aSadler-Smith, 2010, 2015Salas et al, 2010;Blume and Covin, 2011;Akinci and Sadler-Smith, 2012, 2013, 2020Baldacchino, 2013Baldacchino, , 2019Baldacchino et al, 2015;Healey et al, 2015;Pratt and Crosina, 2016;Calabretta et al, 2017;Okoli et al, 2021;Sadler-Smith et al, 2021). In addition, the article has spread over psychology and neuroscience (Hodgkinson et al, 2008;Hogarth, 2010;Gore and Sadler-Smith, 2011;Hodgkinson and Healey, 2011;Ben-Soussan et al, 2020;Keck and Tang, 2020;Korteling and Toet, 2020;Li et al, 2020;Stephens et al, 2020;West et al, 2020;Muñoz-Cobos and Postigo-Zegarra, 2021;Reynolds et al, 2021;Yu et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021), as well as distant disciplinary domains, such as medicine and health sciences (Glatzer et al, 2020;Cameron and Singh, 2021;Chlupsa et al, 2021) or engineering and design (Cash and Maier, 2021;de Rooij et al, 2021;Paige et al, 2021;…”

Human Resource Practices for Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence From Korean Firms

“…This employee voice can be legitimately handled by the representative function such as employee councils or labor unions. Indeed, the promotion of open interaction between employees and their representatives and the participation of employee representatives in the firm’s decision-making process has been identified as pivotal parts of firms with active CSR efforts ( Diaz-Carrion et al, 2019 ; Yu et al, 2021 ). Thus, the hypothesis is given as follows:…”