Research into social and entrepreneurship networks: a literature review and future agenda

This work consisted of a review of the recent literature about entrepreneurship networks. Theoretical descriptions about how social networks' content and structure contribute towards the success of an entrepreneur's activity were integrated from an instrumental point of view, It was concluded that networks represent a means for entrepreneurs to gain access to a variety of resources and how they manage to obtain key benefits by obtaining privileged information, Entrepreneurs use networks in their search for orientation, discovering opportunities, gaining access to other tangible and intangible resources and resolving problems; different types of social network are required for different proposals, the usefulness of the type of network and the links which they represent, essentially depending on the stage of entrepreneurship being developed. This review starts by dealing with the different approaches for studying the relationship between social networks and entrepreneurship. It then tackles the different definitions and topologies regarding the current concept of a social entrepreneurship network. Five models are then presented explaining the relationship between network dynamics and the stages of entrepreneurship's evolution. Networks' instrumental role for entrepreneurs in developing their activity is then looked at, concentrating on explaining how entrepreneurs use networks for obtaining social and cognitive legitimacy. Some conclusions are then drawn and elements suggested for consideration in future research.