Struggling with social capital: Pakistani women micro entrepreneurs’ challenges in acquiring resources

Abstract

A crucial aspect of successful venturing is social capital. In contrast to traditional Western-oriented research where social capital is construed positively, we found that in the traditional, patriarchal society of Pakistan, social capital puts high restrictions on women micro entrepreneurs – where social capital prevents or slows venturing efforts. Results also show that although women do get some selective access to resources from family members, they are restricted by limited access to social capital outside of family members. As women entrepreneurs have the potential to play an important role in the development of any society, and especially so in developing countries, based on the insights derived from this qualitative study, we propose suggestions for further research on women micro entrepreneurs in non-Western contexts.     

Entrepreneurs learning together: The importance of building trust for learning and exploiting business opportunities

This longitudinal, qualitative case study examines trust-building processes and learning outcomes among entrepreneurs who participated in formal networks designed to develop competence and knowledge. This study is built on rich data collected through observation and video recordings made during network meetings and get-togethers. Additional data was gleaned from personal interviews with participating entrepreneurs. All data sources reveal on how trust develops and how entrepreneurs can use networks to learn and improve their capacity to exploit business opportunities. Studying how trust is built over time among entrepreneurs who demonstrate a low level of trust when they join the network, this study provides insights into micro-processes and important components of building trust. Findings suggest three processes that build commitment, companionship, and competence trust. Moreover, acknowledging the notion of social learning, the findings suggest that when entrepreneurs build trust with one another they can experience cognitive, emotional, and social changes by participating in a network. This may bring potential consequences for their exploiting opportunies. Implications for academics and managers are discussed.     

Entrepreneurial orientation‐as‐experimentation and firm performance: The enabling role of absorptive capacity

According to the perspective of entrepreneurial orientation‐as‐experimentation, entrepreneurial orientation (EO) increases variability in innovation outcomes. Although increased variability in the innovation portfolio could increase performance, it could also lead to a decline in performance. We propose that absorptive capacity plays a role in both increasing and managing variations in innovation outcomes. Potential absorptive capacity enhances the effects of EO on variability in innovation outcomes, whereas realized absorptive capacity helps transform and exploit variability in innovation outcomes to enhance firm performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Role stress and entrepreneurship research

Entrepreneurship as a domain of research has grown by benefiting from more established disciplines. However, a commonality in the early stages of applying established theories to entrepreneurship is the lack of grounded research frameworks. This paper reviews literature on role stress and develops a conceptual framework that illustrates how this construct can serve entrepreneurship research. Based on a review of psychological and sociological literature, the paper proposes a model of antecedents and consequences to entrepreneur role stress. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are also presented.     

Does network board capital matter? A study of innovative performance in strategic SME networks

This article examines the effects of network board capital (i.e., human capital and relational capital) on total, radical and incremental network innovative performance. Results from a five-year longitudinal study of network boards in 53 strategic networks suggest that a network board's diversity, education level, and interlocking directorates with other such networks affect network innovative performance. The degree of board diversity and interlocking directorates primarily influence incremental innovation, whereas education level influences radical innovation. The study finds that a network board's diversity of expertise and education level are important for improving all components of innovative performance (total, radical and incremental) in smaller networks. Managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: insights on influencing factors

In the last three decades, research studies investigating how individuals recognize entrepreneurial opportunities have advanced rapidly and have become a key topic in the modern entrepreneurship literature. To advance this important concern further, we present a systematic literature review of the entrepreneurial opportunity research field and its status. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this research suggests that the field is fragmented and empirically underdeveloped. A comprehensive literature analysis shows that only a handful of authors have contributed specifically to developing dialogues related to opportunity recognition and that the topic is considered primarily as an ancillary issue by many authors and academic journals. Based on analyzing 180 articles, we classify existing contributions into six influential factors: prior knowledge, social capital, cognition/personality traits, environmental conditions, alertness, and systematic search. Moreover, by developing a framework, we communicate critical insights regarding the opportunity recognition process. The contribution of individual articles to the proposed factors is presented in a research synthesis table. We conclude by presenting several directions for future research related to opportunity recognition.     

Exploration and exploitation and firm performance variability<Emphasis>:</Emphasis> a study of ambidexterity in entrepreneurial firms

A challenge young entrepreneurial firms usually face is reducing variability in firm performance in order to mitigate survival difficulties. This paper suggests ventures should have a clear preference for either exploration or exploitation, because such an approach to ambidexterity reduces variability in firm performance. We specifically concentrate on the moderation effects of firm size and environmental dynamism in a sample of young entrepreneurial firms. We found evidence for the effects of lower performance variability in dynamic environments. This is an important insight, because environmental dynamism is a contingency where performance variance is considered problematic for entrepreneurial firms. Our research has implications for the establishment phase of entrepreneurial firms as it suggests they should carefully consider how much they explore to be as different as possible and how much they exploit to be as effective as possible. This is particularly important when they are younger and exposed to dynamic environments.