Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Entrepreneurship as Networking? Theoretical Insights from the Historical Literature

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
New Perspectives in Network Studies

  • 118 Accesses

Abstract

The literature on entrepreneurship largely considers the role of networks in historical perspective in terms of social capital, institutional framework and multiple cultural embeddedness, but usually avoids the most radical issues concerning the same definition of the entrepreneur as a network-embedded agent of change. This, in turn, is the subject of a research thread on brokers as actors of innovation. However, interpreting entrepreneurship as networking raises a series of questions concerning its strategic or emergent nature and its intended or unintended effects. Such questions concern the complex nature of network systems and as such they can derive valuable insights from a retrospective historical approach as practised in the humanities.

In fact, a large variety of historical studies concerning different geographical and chronological contexts deals with multiple institutional logics and the ability of embedded actors to exploit connections and contradictions among them to open the way to new solutions. An exploratory review of the historical literature dealing with networks and entrepreneurship is used here to highlight its potential theoretical contributions, despite the fragmentation of the debate on the issue. The discussion highlights the emerging importance of temporality issues in the study of the different network functions of brokers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ahuja, G., Soda, G., & Zaheer, A. (2012). The genesis and dynamics of organizational networks. Organization Science, 23(2), 434–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldrich, H. E., & Zimmer, C. (1986). Entrepreneurship through social networks. In D. L. Sexton & J. Kasarda (Eds.), The art and science of entrepreneurship (pp. 47–71). Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bar-Yam, Y. (2002). General features of complex systems. In Encyclopedia of life support systems. Vol. 1. Knowledge management, organizational intelligence and learning, and complexity. EOLSS UNESCO Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, M. (2000). Ubiquity: Why catastrophes happen. Three River Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R .S. (2004). Structural holes and good ideas. American journal of sociology, 110(2), 349–399.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casson, M., et al. (2010). Entrepreneurship: Theory, networks, history. Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Davidsson, P. (2015). Entrepreneurial opportunities and the entrepreneurship Nexus: A re-conceptualization. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(5), 674–695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Decker, S., & Wadhwani, R. D. (2017). Clio’s toolkit: The practice of historical methods in organization studies. In M. Raza & J. Sanjay (Eds.), The Routledge companion to qualitative research in organization studies (pp. 113–127). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dew, N. (2009). Serendipity in entrepreneurship. Organization Studies, 30(7), 735–753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dimov, D. (2011). Grappling with the unbearable elusiveness of entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35(1), 57–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garud, R., Gehman, J., & Giuliani, A. P. (2014). Contextualizing entrepreneurial innovation: A narrative perspective. Research Policy, 43(7), 1177–1188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ginzburg, C., Tedeschi, J., & Tedeschi, A. C. (1993). Microhistory: Two or three things that I know about it. Critical Inquiry, 20(1), 10–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hernes, T., & Schultz, M. (2020). Translating the distant into the present: How actors address distant past and future events through situated activity. Organization Theory, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2631787719900999

  • Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford university Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obstfeld, D. (2005). Social networks, the tertius Iungens orientation, and involvement in innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50, 100–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obstfeld, D. (2018). Getting new things done: Networks, brokerage and the assembly of innovative action. Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinecke, J., Suddaby, R., Langley, A., & Tsoukas, H. (Eds.). (2020). Time, temporality, and history in process organization studies. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seo, M. G., & Creed, W. D. (2002). Institutional contradictions, praxis, and institutional change: A dialectical perspective. Academy of Management Review, 27(2), 222–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. (2012). The institutional logics perspective: A new approach to culture, structure, and process. Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Uzzi, B. (1996). The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations: The network effect. American Sociological Review, 61(4), 674–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vernet, A. (2021). Bruno latour and social network theory. Linkedin Pulse. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bruno-latour-social-network-theory-antoine-vernet

References from the Literature Review

  • Abodohoui, A., Fahinde, C., Mayuto, R., & Su, Z. (2020). Moderating effects of networks on the relationship between acculturation and entrepreneurial skills development: Evidence from Africans trained in China. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 20(3), 301–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Booth, A. (2015). Producing Bollywood: Entrepreneurs and sustainable production networks. World of Music, 4(1), 73–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boubekeur, A. (2016). Islamic business and Muslim Entrepreneurs networks in Europe: Performing transnational modernity and overcoming marginalization. Contemporary Islam, 10(3), 421–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-016-0358-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caglioti, D. L. (2008). Trust, business groups and social capital: Building a Protestant entrepreneurial network in nineteenth-century Naples. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 13(2), 219–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545710802010974

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elfring, T., Kliver, K., & van Brun, E. (2021). Entrepreneurship as Networking: Mechanisms, Dynamics, Practices, and Strategies. Oxford university Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goddard, S. E. (2009). Brokering change: Networks and entrepreneurs in international politics. International Theory, 1(2), 249–281. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752971909000128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gómez-Galvarriato, A. (2008). Networks and entrepreneurship: The modernization of the textile business in Porfirian Mexico. Business History Review, 82(3), 475–502. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007680500082611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gumerov, A. V., Fatikhova, L. E., Kolpakov, K. O., Nabiullina, K. R., Litvin, I. Y., Suchkova, S. Y., & Yusupova, G. F. (2015). Features of forming an interaction network of an entrepreneurial structure. Review of European Studies, 7(4), 209–215. https://doi.org/10.5539/res.v7n4p209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo, W. (2022). Institutional entrepreneurship through network governance: A social network analysis of NEA’s creative placemaking national initiative. Cultural Trends. https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2022.2082863

  • Irurzun, J. G., Mondéjar, J. A. R., & Armenteros, S. H. (2013). Empresarios y redes empresariales en la Andalucía contemporánea. Revista de Historia Industrial, 22(51), 107–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaafar, N. J. & Alwazni, J. S. M. (2019). Social Networks and Future Orientation of Females Entrepreneurs in Malaysia: The Mediate Effect of Innovation and the Moderate Effect of Access to Loan. Opcion, 35 (Special Issue 19): 2899–2921.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jan, M. A. (2017). The emergence and transformation of Batkhela Bazaar (Pakistan): Ethnic entrepreneurship, social networks, and change in underdeveloped societies. Journal of South Asian Development, 12(3), 308–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973174117733554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiatong, W., Li, C., Murad, M., Shahzad, F., & Ashraf, S. F. (2021). Impact of social entrepreneurial factors on sustainable enterprise development: Mediating role of social network and moderating effect of government regulations. SAGE Open, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211030636

  • Kaya, D. A. (2020). Entrepreneurial networks in the Ottoman Empire: The case of Osman Inayet. Proceedings of the Centre for Economic History Research, 5, 265–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, R. (2018). Family firms, global networks and transnational actors: The case of Alexander Fraser (1816–1904), merchant and entrepreneur in the Netherlands Indies, Low Countries and London. Bijdragen en Mededelingen Betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, 133(2), 27–51. https://doi.org/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.10547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Y., Namatovu, R., Karadeniz, E. E., Schøtt, T., & Minto-Coy, I. D. (2020). Entrepreneurs’ transnational networks channelling exports: Diasporas from Central & South America, Sub-Sahara Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Asia, and the European culture region. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(10), 2106–2125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lo, M. S. (2016). En route to New York: Diasporic networks and the reconfiguration of female entrepreneurship in Senegal. Gender, Place and Culture, 23(4), 503–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2015.1013444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-Morell, M. A., & O’Kean, J. M. (2008). A stable network as a source of entrepreneurial opportunities: The Rothschilds in Spain, 1835–1931. Business History, 50(2), 163–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076790701868569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDade, K. (2011). Liverpool slave merchant entrepreneurial networks, 1725–1807. Business History, 53(7), 1092–1109. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2011.590933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendick, H., Ottemo, A., Berge, M., & Silfver, E. (2021). Geek entrepreneurs: The social network, Iron Man and the reconfiguration of hegemonic masculinity. Journal of Gender Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.1981836

  • Migliore, G., Schifani, G., Romeo, P., Hashem, S., & Cembalo, L. (2015). Are farmers in alternative food networks social entrepreneurs? Evidence from a behavioral approach. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 28(5), 885–902. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-015-9562-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, M. C., & Rose, M. B. (2004). Communities of knowledge: Entrepreneurship, innovation and networks in the British outdoor trade, 1960–90. Business History, 46(4), 609–639. https://doi.org/10.1080/0007679042000231865

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng, H., & Li, B. Y. (2022). How social network influences the growth of entrepreneurial enterprises: Perspective on organizational and personal network. SAGE Open, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221108178

  • Plehwe, D. (2021). Interplays of economic and knowledge power. Neoliberal think tank networks and the return and universalization of entrepreneurship. In J. Landry (Ed.), Critical perspectives on think tanks: power, politics and knowledge (pp. 116–135). Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubio-Mondejar, J. A., & Garrues-Irurzun, J. (2022). Women entrepreneurs and family networks in Andalusia (Spain) during the second industrial revolution. Business History. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2022.2068524

  • Rungsrisawat, S., & Sutduean, C. (2019). Entrepreneurial alertness, social network, creativity and entrepreneurial opportunity recognition among the university students of Thailand: Does the prior knowledge of the students matter. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 6(10), 402–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rusinovic, K. (2008). Transnational embeddedness: Transnational activities and networks among first- and second-generation immigrant entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(3), 431–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830701880285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santisteban, S. C. (2019). El emprendedor de tecnología en Colombia: Una discusión de la teoría actor-red, los imaginarios sociales y la teoría lacaniana. Digithum, 2019(23), 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarwar, Z., Khan, M. A., Yang, Z., Khan, A., Haseeb, M., & Sarwar, A. (2021). An investigation of entrepreneurial SMEs’ network capability and social capital to accomplish innovativeness: A dynamic capability perspective. SAGE Open, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211036089

  • Savall, N. V., Pizarro, J. E., & Valero López, D. E. (2020). Redes de apoyo al emprendimiento femenino en territorios rurales. Obets, 15(1), 317–355. https://doi.org/10.14198/OBETS2020.15.1.11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Somkaun, N., Chumnanmak, R., & Narongchai, W. (2021). The roles of stakeholders and social networks in becoming farmer-entrepreneurs. Journal of Mekong Societies, 17(3), 121–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandekerckhove, W., & Dentchev, N. A. (2005). A network perspective on stakeholder management: Facilitating entrepreneurs in the discovery of opportunities. Journal of Business Ethics, 60(3), 221–232. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-0130-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zalc, Q. (2001). Petits entrepreneurs étrangers en ville. Localisations urbaines, réseaux migratoires et solidarités professionnelles dans la Seine pendant l’entre-deux-guerres. Histoire Urbaine, 4(2), 67–82.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Network Organization, Innovation, and Strategy Research Center (NOIS), Department of Management, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Giovanni Favero

Authors
  1. Giovanni Favero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Favero .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Network Organization, Innovation, and Strategy Research Center (NOIS)Department of Management, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Anna Moretti

  2. Network Organization, Innovation, and Strategy Research Center (NOIS)Department of Management, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Lisa Balzarin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Favero, G. (2023). Entrepreneurship as Networking? Theoretical Insights from the Historical Literature. In: Moretti, A., Balzarin, L. (eds) New Perspectives in Network Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22083-8_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation