The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs

This study examines nascent entrepreneurship by comparing individuals engaged in nascent activities (n = 380) with a control group (n=608), after screening a sample from the general population (n=30,427). The study then follows the developmental process of nascent entrepreneurs for 18 months. Bridging and bonding social capital, consisting of both strong and weak ties, was a robust predictor regarding who became a nascent entrepreneur as well as for advancing through the start-up process. With regard to outcomes like first sale or showing a profit, only one aspect of social capital, viz. being a member of a business network, had a statistically significant positive effect. The study supports human capital in predicting entry into nascent entrepreneurship, but only weakly for carrying the start-up process towards successful completion. THE ROLE OF SOCIAL AND HUMAN CAPITAL AMONG NASCENT ENTREPRENEURS

[1]  M. Bhave.  A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation , 1994 .

[2]  Carolyn Y. Woo,et al.  Survival of the Fittest? Entrepreneurial Human Capital and the Persistence of Underperforming Firms , 1997 .

[3]  J. Coleman,et al.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[4]  W. Gartner.  “Who Is an Entrepreneur?” Is the Wrong Question , 1988 .

[5]  P. Robinson,et al.  The effect of education and experience on self-employment success , 1994 .

[6]  David W. Hosmer,et al.  Applied Logistic Regression , 1991 .

[7]  Thomas Voss,et al.  Organizational Mortality of Small Firms: The Effects of Entrepreneurial Age and Human Capital , 1990 .

[8]  Per Davidsson,et al.  Continued entrepreneurship and small firm growth , 1989 .

[9]  P. Greene,et al.  Resource needs and the dynamic capitalism typology , 1997 .

[10]  B. Uzzi,et al.  Embeddedness in the Making of Financial Capital: How Social Relations and Networks Benefit Firms Seeking Financing , 1999, The New Economic Sociology.

[11]  Glenn C. Loury,et al.  Why Should We Care about Group Inequality? , 1987, Social Philosophy and Policy.

[12]  J. Richardson.  Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education , 1986 .

[13]  Deborah V. Brazeal,et al.  Entrepreneurial Potential and Potential Entrepreneurs , 1994 .

[14]  Paul D. Reynolds,et al.  Who Starts New Firms? – Preliminary Explorations of Firms-in-Gestation , 1997 .

[15]  V. Nee,et al.  Immigrant self-employment: the family as social capital and the value of human capital. , 1996 .

[16]  Howard E. Aldrich,et al.  Passing on Privilege: resources provided by self-employed parents to their self-employed children , 1998 .

[17]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[18]  Robert J. Bennett,et al.  The use of external business advice by SMEs in Britain , 1999 .

[19]  Steven Durlauf,et al.  Social Capital , 2004 .

[20]  R. Burt.  The Network Structure Of Social Capital , 2000 .

[21]  W. Baker.  Market Networks and Corporate Behavior , 1990, American Journal of Sociology.

[22]  T. Schultz.  Investment in Man: An Economist's View , 1959, Social Service Review.

[23]  J. Mincer.  Schooling, Experience, and Earnings , 1976 .

[24]  Ronald S. Burt,et al.  Autonomy in a Social Topology , 1980, American Journal of Sociology.

[25]  N. Lin,et al.  Social Resources and Strength of Ties: Structural Factors in Occupational Status Attainment , 1981, Social Capital, Social Support and Stratification.

[26]  W. Gartner,et al.  Exploring Start-Up Event Sequences , 1996 .

[27]  Johan Wiklund,et al.  Levels of Analysis in Entrepreneurship Research: Current Research Practice and Suggestions for the Future * , 2001 .

[28]  Pamela Paxton.  Is Social Capital Declining in the United States? A Multiple Indicator Assessment1 , 1999, American Journal of Sociology.

[29]  E. Romanelli,et al.  14. Emergent Themes and the Next Wave of Entrepreneurship Research , 2002, The Entrepreneurship Dynamic.

[30]  N. Leff,et al.  Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: The Problem Revisited , 1979 .

[31]  Howard E. Aldrich,et al.  Entrepreneurship Through Social Networks , 1986 .

[32]  P. Davidsson,et al.  Toward a theory of entrepreneurial behaviour; empirical evidence from Israel, Italy and Sweden , 1990 .

[33]  S. Shane,et al.  The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research , 2000 .

[34]  K. Weick.  Drop Your Tools: An Allegory for Organizational Studies. , 1996 .

[35]  Per Davidsson,et al.  Determinants Of Entrepreneurial Intentions , 1995 .

[36]  J. Coleman.  Foundations of Social Theory , 1990 .

[37]  James N. Baron,et al.  The Impact of Economics on Contemporary Sociology , 1994 .

[38]  S. Birley.  The Role of Networks in the Entrepreneurial Process , 1985 .

[39]  Roy Thurik,et al.  Linking Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth , 1999 .

[40]  B. Honig.  What determines success? examining the human, financial, and social capital of jamaican microentrepreneurs , 1998 .

[41]  Barbara J. Bird,et al.  The Operation of Entrepreneurial Intentions , 1989 .

[42]  G. Willard,et al.  Founding strategy and performance: A comparison of high and low growth high tech firms , 1990 .

[43]  P. Adler,et al.  Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept , 2002 .

[44]  David S. Evans,et al.  Some Empirical Aspects of Entrepreneurship , 1989 .

[45]  K. Cook,et al.  Two Approaches to Social Structure: Exchange Theory and Network Analysis , 1992 .

[46]  Stanley Wasserman,et al.  Social Network Analysis , 1993 .

[47]  G. Foxall.  Evidence for attitudinal-behavioural consistency: Implications for consumer research paradigms , 1984 .

[48]  Mark S. Granovetter.  Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

[49]  Mason A. Carpenter,et al.  Bundling Human Capital with Organizational Context: The Impact of International Assignment Experience on Multinational Firm Performance and CEO Pay , 2001 .

[50]  Sven Ripsas.  Towards an Interdisciplinary Theory of Entrepreneurship , 1998 .