Understanding Entrepreneurial Performance in a Networked Social Environment

Finally, the last PhD candidate of the Innova Institute that shared her research work last December was Carla Riverola. Although her research is also encompased under the field of entreprneurship, her focus is on the role of the Social Capital of the Individual towards their Entrepreneurial Performance. In particular, her interest lays on "Understanding Entrepreneurial Performance in a Networked Social Environment".  Find the abstract of her research below:

"Several theories have been trying to identify the entrepreneur’s success factors in order to improve new venture performance (Simpeh 2011). From a managerial point of view, the Resource-Based Theory considers that the founder’s access to resources is an important mean for entrepreneurial performance (Alvarez & Busenitz 2001). Build under the Resource-Based Theory, the Social Capital of the entrepreneur defines how the individual’s social network may provide useful resources to enhance its venture performance (Davidsson & Honig 2003a; Adler & Kwon 2009).

Moreover, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), also known as the new media, have introduced individuals in a Networked Social Environment, where they have more opportunities to develop and maintain ties (Mandal et al. 2011; Gilbert & Karahalios 2009). In fact, studies on the motivations and gratifications for adopting these new media found that individuals use these ICT to expand and interact with their social network structures.

Thus, it seems that the new media should increase entrepreneur’s Social Capital, and in turn its new venture performance. Contrarily, some researchers claimed that entrepreneurs working in such a Networked Social Environment are struggling to perform better (Teece 2010; Zott & Amit 2008). Focusing on the aforementioned controversy, this research in progress aims to refine the current understanding on the relationship between Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Performance through studying the role of new media.

The contribution of this research is for both academics and practitioners that may benefit from a refined understanding of the influence of Social Capital on Entrepreneurial performance on a Social Networked Environment."

Again, we would like to congratulate Carla for her great job!