{"title":"Entrepreneurs’ Networking Styles and Normative Underpinnings during Institutional Transition","authors":"Chenjian Zhang, Tao Wang, D. Ahlstrom","doi":"10.5465/ambpp.2021.12434abstract","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Existing network research has mainly adopted functional and/or structural approaches to study the instrumental goals behind entrepreneurs’ networking as well as the influence of personal position on access to resources and eventual performance. The variety of entrepreneurs’ networking styles and their normative underpinnings have not been adequately explored. Contextualized in China, this study asks: How do entrepreneurs’ understandings of social norms shape their networking styles? Through an inductive comparison of two entrepreneur generations in China, we identify three networking styles: guanxi-oriented networking, market-based networking, and mixed networking. We theorize that three types of norms shape these styles: market-inferred norms, dyadically formed norms, and identity-induced norms. This study provides new insights into the understanding of Chinese entrepreneurs’ distinctive networking styles and their normative underpinnings. Further, it suggests implications both for the wider study of entrepreneurs’ networking behaviors in transition economies, and for practitioners wishing to enhance their network building in China.","PeriodicalId":45658,"journal":{"name":"Entrepreneurship Research Journal","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Entrepreneurship Research Journal","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2021.12434abstract","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract Existing network research has mainly adopted functional and/or structural approaches to study the instrumental goals behind entrepreneurs’ networking as well as the influence of personal position on access to resources and eventual performance. The variety of entrepreneurs’ networking styles and their normative underpinnings have not been adequately explored. Contextualized in China, this study asks: How do entrepreneurs’ understandings of social norms shape their networking styles? Through an inductive comparison of two entrepreneur generations in China, we identify three networking styles: guanxi-oriented networking, market-based networking, and mixed networking. We theorize that three types of norms shape these styles: market-inferred norms, dyadically formed norms, and identity-induced norms. This study provides new insights into the understanding of Chinese entrepreneurs’ distinctive networking styles and their normative underpinnings. Further, it suggests implications both for the wider study of entrepreneurs’ networking behaviors in transition economies, and for practitioners wishing to enhance their network building in China.
期刊介绍:
Entrepreneurship Research Journal (ERJ) was launched with an Inaugural Issue in 2011. Professor Ramona Zachary at Baruch College and Professor Chandra Mishra at Florida Atlantic University introduce a new forum for scholarly discussion on entrepreneurs and their activities, contexts, processes, strategies, and outcomes. Positioned as the premier new research journal within the field of entrepreneurship, ERJ seeks to encourage a scholarly exchange between researchers from any field of study who focus on entrepreneurs, and will include both theoretical and empirical articles, with priority being given to high quality theoretical and empirical papers that have managerial or public policy orientation as well as ramifications for entrepreneurship research overall. Topics: -Research Modeling, Design, and Methods: entrepreneurship theories and conceptualizations, entrepreneurship research methods. -The Individuals-Opportunities-Resources Nexus: nascent entrepreneurs, opportunity recognition, drivers of value creation, and emergence, innovation and technology entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial risk and reward, entrepreneurial cognition and behavior. -Inclusive of Near Environments: family entrepreneurship, networks, teams and alliances, venture capital and angel investor groups, entrepreneurial communities, hubs, clusters and public policy, social entrepreneurship. -Distinct Entrepreneurial Stage or Setting: entrepreneurial growth and strategy, boards, governance and leadership, corporate entrepreneurship, international and emerging market entrepreneurship.