The accumulation of social capital in the early stages and its implications for entrepreneurial performances

In this thesis, by mixing qualitative and quantitative methodologies, I investigate social capital accumulation in the early entrepreneurial stages and I study its implication for entrepreneurial performances. I highlight that entrepreneurs make use of differ mechanisms of social capital accumulation which are costly and may affect entrepreneurial performances in several respects. First, I highlight that accumulating new social capital distracts entrepreneurs from the management of the social capital already possessed. This reduce the efficacy of this and may lead to its dissolution. Second, I show that collecting a large stock of social capital may entails stress and confusion and finally affect the probability to commercialize the product. Finally, I stress that the effect of social capital accumulation are context-specific rather than homogeneous across industries. Implications for scholars, practitioners and policy-makers are discussed.

In questa tesi, combinando metodologie qualitative e quantitative, ho investigato l'accumulazione di capitale sociale nelle fasi iniziali dell'impresa, studiando le implicazioni di questo processo sulle performance imprenditoriali. Da questo studio emerge che gli imprenditori utilizzano diversi meccanismi per accumulare capitale sociale. Questi meccanismi sono costosi e influenzano le performance imprenditoriali in vari modi. Nello specifico, l'accumulazione di capitale sociale può comportare la dissoluzione di capitale sociale già posseduto e può avere effetti negativi sulle performance operative dell'impresa.