Balagopal Vissa, N. Anand
While research on entrepreneurs' personal networks has provided useful insights on how network structure and quality drive venture success, there is relatively little understanding on how entrepreneurs shape the structure of their networks. In this theoretical paper we examine this issue and make two claims. First, we argue that entrepreneurs in part create the social structure around them by selectively forming new ties or dissolving old ones. Second, we posit that entrepreneurs differ in their capability to form new ties or dissolve old ones - we label this networking style. We identify three elements of entrepreneurial networking style: spanning capacity, goal-orientedness and connecting capacity. We develop arguments relating these networking style elements to rates of tie formation and tie dissolution. We thus use the concept of networking styles to elaborate on how entrepreneurs partly shape the social structure in which they are embedded.
INSEAD, Singapore 138676, 1, Ayer Rajah Avenue, Singapore; London Business School, United Kingdom
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