Cultivating Online Social Resources to Enhance Entrepreneurial Learning: Providing New Insights Into Trust Repairing

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of online social capital on knowledge acquisition, and thereby, improve the process of entrepreneurial learning for youngsters. The researchers offer hypotheses to shed light on the interrelationships among critical components of social capital theory and knowledge acquisition towards the enhancement of entrepreneurial learning. The study also highlights the role of trust as a moderator which links the other aspects of social capital with knowledge acquisition. The hypotheses were tested using data collected from online groups based on the motive of entrepreneurial culture and student learning. The study findings identified a significant positive relationships between social interaction and knowledge acquisition, between shared vision and knowledge acquisition, and also between knowledge acquisition and entrepreneurial learning, confirming our hypothesis that social capital affects knowledge acquisition and its practice al application to student learning. Furthermore, trust as a moderator diminished the positive relationships between social interaction and knowledge acquisition and also between shared vision and knowledge acquisition. With the emerging use of Web-based technologies, this research can be valuable to explain how different facets of online social capital can foster learning effectiveness for young entrepreneurs in multiple social settings. The findings also provide significant implications for organizations and social networks to better understand the aspects of trust repair which could be helpful to enhance collective learning.