The Development of Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Role of Human, Social and Institutional Capital

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial leadership development. Leadership studies are characterized by an increasing emphasis given to an individual leader's social and organizational domain. Within the context of human capital and social capital theory, the paper reflects on the emergence of a social capital theory of leadership development. Using a retrospective, interpretivist research method, the authors present the experience of a cohort of business leaders on an executive development programme to uncover the everydayness of leadership development in practice. Specifically, they explore how entrepreneurial leadership develops as a social process and what the role of social capital is in this. The findings suggest that the enhancement of leaders' human capital only occurred through their development of social capital. There is not, as extant literature suggests, a clear separation between leader development and leadership development. Further, the analysis implies that the social capital theory of leadership is limited in the context of the entrepreneurial small firm, and the authors propose that it should be expanded to incorporate institutional capital, that is, the formal structures and organizations which enhance the role of social capital and go beyond enriching the human capital stock of individual leaders.

A review of entrepreneurial leadership learning: an exploration that draws on human, social and institutional capitals

“…In terms of entrepreneurial leadership these outcomes would be seen to provide an integrative frame to Leitch et al's (2013) definition above. Drath et al (2008) and Leitch et al (2013) broadly reach similar conclusions with regard to the nature of entrepreneurship, leadership and entrepreneurial leadership. It is best seen as an emergent property of a relational learning dynamic (see also Cope and Watts, 2000;Thorpe et al, 2009;Kempster and Cope, 2010;Cope et al, 2011;and Bagheri and Pihie, 2011).…”

“…Entrepreneurial leadership development is also seen as a social process emphasising the relational nature of learning through everyday action (Taylor and Thorpe, 2004;Cope, 2005;Pittaway and Thorpe, 2012). Theorists call for the need to better understand entrepreneurial leadership learning in the context of smaller firms (see Leitch et al, 2013). In response to this call, we argue that CoP theory (as a social learning theory) can act as a useful analytical tool for more fully understanding the entrepreneurial leadership learning process and its relation between identity and context in the small firm.…”

“…The field of entrepreneurial leadership is 'in the very early stages of conceptual and theoretical development' (Bagheri and Pihie, 2011: 449; similarly argued in Cogliser and Brigham, 2004;Jensen and Luthans, 2006;Leitch et al, 2013). Gupta et al (2004: 242) offer a useful definition: 'entrepreneurial leadership that creates visionary scenarios that are used to mobilise a supporting cast of participants who become committed by the vision to the discovery of exploitation of strategic value'.…”

“…The connection of the entrepreneur and their development and the development of the business are fundamentally interconnected through relationships. Leitch et al (2013) helpfully 'join the dots' together, providing a useful summary of entrepreneurial leadership. They describe it as 'a social process enacted through everyday active encounters as a practice of relational learning'.…”

Developing entrepreneurial leadership: the challenge for sustainable organisations

“…Leitch, McMullan & Harrison (2009) addressed the application of action learning to leadership in the small firm context, with a focus on the effectiveness of learning outcomes and proposing the integrated development of personal identity, social interaction and organisational development in the learning process. Leitch, McMullan & Harrison (2013) explored the roles of human, social and institutional capital in developing entrepreneurial leadership through a relational perspective. Kempster and Cope (2010) brought prior research perspectives to bear from entrepreneurial learning, introducing a conceptual framework for restricted leadership learning in the entrepreneurial context.…”