A Framework Describing the Relationships among Social Technologies and Social Capital Formation in Electronic Entrepreneurial Networking

E-commerce technologies—including online exchanges—focus heavily on transaction support. They are designed primarily to reduce transaction costs between suppliers, producers, distributors, and customers. Entrepreneurs however are not likely to realize the full business potential of e-commerce unless the transaction technologies are simultaneously supported by technology-enabled social learning networks used to stimulate the formation of social capital in its three primary manifestations. Toward that end this article argues that a number of Internet-based social technologies (e.g., email, chat, blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc.) can be used more effectively when it is understood that each technology offers different characteristics in support of the formation of different dimensions of social capital. This article presents a conceptual framework describing the capacities of various social technologies for supporting the formation of social capital. A primary thrust of the article is that alignment of a social technology infrastructure with the social capital requirements in entrepreneurial communities will facilitate the formation of electronic learning networks, enabling more collaborative and therefore more successful entrepreneurial communities.