IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/erjour/v4y2014i3p16n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structural Holes and Entrepreneurial Decision Making

Author

Listed:
  • Aarstad Jarle

    (Faculty of Engineering, Bergen University College, Bergen NO-5020, Norway)

Abstract

Actors in a position to broker and connect otherwise disconnected parts of a social network are spanning structural holes. The spanning of structural holes can leverage performance, but in this paper I study if it can also influence entrepreneurial decision making. Studying a network of entrepreneurs – mostly farmers – who have built their own hydroelectric micro-power plants in rural Nozrway, I find that actors spanning structural holes tend to build relatively large plants. The use of instrumental variables indicates that the spanning of structural holes is a cause, and not an effect, of entrepreneurs’ decisions about plant size. The paper discusses how the finding can have implications for our understanding of decision making and entrepreneurial risk taking beyond the studied context. I also find that the entrepreneurs’ formal level of education is positively associated with the size of the plants being built.

Suggested Citation

  • Aarstad Jarle, 2014. "Structural Holes and Entrepreneurial Decision Making," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 4(3), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:erjour:v:4:y:2014:i:3:p:16:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/erj-2013-0077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2013-0077
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/erj-2013-0077?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    2. Suresh de Mel & David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2009. "Returns to Capital in Microenterprises: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(1), pages 423-423.
    3. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Sampsa Samila & Olav Sorenson, 2011. "Noncompete Covenants: Incentives to Innovate or Impediments to Growth," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(3), pages 425-438, March.
    5. Jordahl, Henrik & Poutvaara, Panu & Tuomala, Juha, 2009. "Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Rejoinder," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 648-648, October.
    6. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    7. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    8. Akbar Zaheer & Geoffrey G. Bell, 2005. "Benefiting from network position: firm capabilities, structural holes, and performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 809-825, September.
    9. Garcia-Mainar, Inmaculada & Montuenga-Gomez, Victor M., 2005. "Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Portugal vs. Spain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 161-170, April.
    10. Parker, Simon C. & van Praag, C. Mirjam, 2006. "Schooling, Capital Constraints, and Entrepreneurial Performance: The Endogenous Triangle," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 24, pages 416-431, October.
    11. Jordahl, Henrik & Poutvaara, Panu & Tuomala, Juha, 2009. "Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Comment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 641-644, October.
    12. Samila, Sampsa & Sorenson, Olav, 2010. "Venture capital as a catalyst to commercialization," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1348-1360, December.
    13. Oosterbeek, Hessel & van Praag, Mirjam & Ijsselstein, Auke, 2010. "The impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurship skills and motivation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 442-454, April.
    14. Balagopal Vissa & Aya S. Chacar, 2009. "Leveraging ties: the contingent value of entrepreneurial teams' external advice networks on Indian software venture performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(11), pages 1179-1191, November.
    15. Mark J. Garmaise, 2008. "Production in Entrepreneurial Firms: The Effects of Financial Constraints on Labor and Capital," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 543-577, April.
    16. David M. Waguespack & Lee Fleming, 2009. "Scanning the Commons? Evidence on the Benefits to Startups Participating in Open Standards Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 210-223, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, 2016. "Financing Entrepreneurial Experimentation," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23.
    2. Yael V. Hochberg, 2016. "Accelerating Entrepreneurs and Ecosystems: The Seed Accelerator Model," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 25-51.
    3. Yael V. Hochberg, 2015. "Accelerating Entrepreneurs and Ecosystems: The Seed Accelerator Model," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 16, pages 25-51, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Sahin, Cenkhan & de Haan, Jakob, 2016. "Market reactions to the ECB’s Comprehensive Assessment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-5.
    5. Nickerson, Jordan & Griffin, John M., 2017. "Debt correlations in the wake of the financial crisis: What are appropriate default correlations for structured products?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 454-474.
    6. Bundhoo, Zumar M.A. & Mauthoor, Sumayya & Mohee, Romeela, 2016. "Potential of biogas production from biomass and waste materials in the Small Island Developing State of Mauritius," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1087-1100.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jarle Aarstad, 2012. "Do Structural Holes and Network Connectivity Really Affect Entrepreneurial Performance?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 21(2), pages 253-268, September.
    2. Cucculelli, Marco & Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle & Miller, Danny, 2016. "Product innovation, firm renewal and family governance," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 90-104.
    3. Sujuan Xie & Yujiang Chen & Yunguo Liu, 2021. "Internal governance and innovation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 2507-2538, April.
    4. Jordahl, Henrik & Poutvaara, Panu & Tuomala, Juha, 2009. "Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Rejoinder," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 648-648, October.
    5. Giuliani, Elisa & Martinelli, Arianna & Rabellotti, Roberta, 2016. "Is Co-Invention Expediting Technological Catch Up? A Study of Collaboration between Emerging Country Firms and EU Inventors," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 192-205.
    6. Freeman, Steven F., 1997. "Good decisions : reconciling human rationality, evolution, and ethics," Working papers WP 3962-97., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    7. Boeker, Warren & Howard, Michael D. & Basu, Sandip & Sahaym, Arvin, 2021. "Interpersonal relationships, digital technologies, and innovation in entrepreneurial ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 495-507.
    8. Karel Janda, 2019. "Earnings Stability and Peer Company Selection for Multiple Based Indirect Valuation," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 69(1), pages 37-75, February.
    9. Wu, Jianfeng & Tu, Rungting, 2007. "CEO stock option pay and R&D spending: a behavioral agency explanation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 482-492, May.
    10. Fabrizio Pompei & Ekaterina Selezneva, 2015. "Education Mismatch, Human Capital and Labour Status of Young People across European Union Countries," Working Papers 347, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    11. Daniela P. Blettner & Zi-Lin He & Songcui Hu & Richard A. Bettis, 2015. "Adaptive aspirations and performance heterogeneity: Attention allocation among multiple reference points," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 987-1005, July.
    12. Federico Belotti & Edoardo Di Porto & Gianluca Santoni, 2021. "The effect of local taxes on firm performance: Evidence from geo‐referenced data," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 492-510, March.
    13. Antonio Ciccone & Giovanni Peri, 2005. "Long-Run Substitutability Between More and Less Educated Workers: Evidence from U.S. States, 1950-1990," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(4), pages 652-663, November.
    14. Maness, Michael & Cirillo, Cinzia, 2016. "An indirect latent informational conformity social influence choice model: Formulation and case study," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 75-101.
    15. Jakusch, Sven Thorsten, 2017. "On the applicability of maximum likelihood methods: From experimental to financial data," SAFE Working Paper Series 148, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, revised 2017.
    16. Zheng, Yanfeng & Liu, Jing & George, Gerard, 2010. "The dynamic impact of innovative capability and inter-firm network on firm valuation: A longitudinal study of biotechnology start-ups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 593-609, November.
    17. Felipe A. Csaszar & Daniel A. Levinthal, 2016. "Mental representation and the discovery of new strategies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2031-2049, October.
    18. Meissner, Philip & Wulf, Torsten, 2014. "Antecendents and effects of decision comprehensiveness: The role of decision quality and perceived uncertainty," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 625-635.
    19. Yuda, Michio, 2013. "Medical Fee Reforms, Changes In Medical Supply Densities, And Supplier-Induced Demand: Empirical Evidence From Japan," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 54(1), pages 79-93, June.
    20. Parker, Simon C., 2013. "Do serial entrepreneurs run successively better-performing businesses?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 652-666.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:erjour:v:4:y:2014:i:3:p:16:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.