ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPITAL: EXAMINING LINKAGES IN HUMAN AND SOCIAL CAPITAL OF NEW VENTURES

Despite advancing extant theory, studies have tended to oversimplify the roles of human and social capital influences on nascent activity by underemphasizing the importance of motivational factors, construct dimensionality and context. This study seeks to extend previous efforts by investigating the relationship between various forms of human and social capital in the new venture creation process, both generally and across high and low technological contexts. Findings show that certain aspects of human capital are systematically related to certain aspects of social capital regardless of technological context, suggesting that nascent entrepreneurs may benefit more broadly from engaging in systematic efforts to construct certain types of social capital in support of venturing activities. Equally important, these findings support the central proposition that entrepreneurship theory and practice will benefit from more focused research efforts to generate insights into the dynamic relationships between individuals, their social worlds and entrepreneurial outcomes.