TY - JOUR
T1 - Entrepreneurs' Networking Styles and Normative Underpinnings during Institutional Transition
AU - Zhang, Chenjian
AU - Wang, Tao
AU - AHLSTROM, David
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.
PY - 2024/4/1
Y1 - 2024/4/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Chinese entrepreneurs
KW - guanxi
KW - institutional transition
KW - networking
KW - norms
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122610222&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/erj-2021-0200
DO - 10.1515/erj-2021-0200
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122610222
SN - 2194-6175
VL - 14
SP - 457
EP - 489
JO - Entrepreneurship Research Journal
JF - Entrepreneurship Research Journal
IS - 2
ER -