Roles of Social Capital in Venture Creation: Key Dimensions and Research Implications*

Abstract

This study was built upon Nahapiet and Ghoshal's three dimensions of social capital-structural, relational, and cognitive. It addresses three research questions:(1) Are there significant differences in social capital between nascent entrepreneurs and the general public (control group)? (2) Are there significant differences in social capital between technology and nontechnology nascent entrepreneurs? (3) How do the three dimensions of social capital interact among themselves across different sample groups? These questions were examined by using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics data set. Results suggest that there are no significant differences in various dimensions of social capital between nascent entrepreneurs and the general public. What differentiates the two groups is not the amount of social capital but the patterns of association among its different dimensions. Additionally, the

Towards a new framework for SMEs success: a literature review

“…In fact, the early formation of a business, networking provides a bridging function to the environment and attenuates unfavourable environmental influences on business development, thus having a positive effect on survival (Davidsson and Honig, 2003;Kristiansen, 2002;Littunen, 2000). Last, the importance of networking to the new venture creation process is highlighted by several authors (Baron and Markman, 2003;De Carolis and Saparito, 2006;De Carolis et al, 2009;Korunka et al, 2010;Liao and Welsch, 2005).…”

Regional Social Legitimacy of Entrepreneurship: Implications for Entrepreneurial Intention and Start-up Behaviour

“…In addition to the aforementioned literature, the hypotheses in the present study are founded upon ETZIONI's (1987) and LIAO and WELSCH's (2005) investigations. ETZIONI (1987: 175) suggests that 'the extent to which entrepreneurship is legitimate, the demand for it is higher; the supply of entrepreneurship is higher; and more resources are allocated to the entrepreneurial function'.…”

The Perception of an Entrepreneur’s Structural, Relational and Cognitive Social Capital among Young People in Poland - An Exploratory Study

“…Liao and Welsch (2005) described different aspects of social capital as serving different purposes. Structural capital is supposed to enhance a nascent entrepreneur's ability to enterprise.…”

“…Since the seminal work of Putnam (1994), scholars have attempted to identify and verify different dimensions of social capital in different social contexts. One such theoretical proposition that applies strictly to the entrepreneurial context was developed by Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) and later used by other scholars including Liao and Welsch (2005). Authors identified three dimensions of social capital: structural, relational and cognitive social capital.…”