Relationship building in effectual networking, social networking and business networking : an empirical comparison of complementary approaches in entrepreneurial research
Résumé
The desire for a more insightful approach to the true dynamics of entrepreneurial processes is both long-standing and on-going. Network-influenced approaches to new venture development focus on understanding the dynamics of entrepreneurs' interactions with other actors rather than a deterministic and agentic process. They require empirical validation, however, and this research compares three such network-based models of entrepreneurship using four in-depth case studies. The complementary nature of the approaches as well as their limitations are discussed in the analysis. Recent work by the IMP group is proposed as a way to develop greater understanding of the interactions by and with entrepreneurs and the development and ending of relationships.