Social Capital and Learning Advantages: A Problem of Absorptive Capacity

Hughes, M.; Morgan, R.E.; Ireland, R.D.; Hughes, P.

doi:10.1002/sej.1162

Social Capital and Learning Advantages: A Problem of Absorptive Capacity

Hughes, M.; Morgan, R.E.; Ireland, R.D.; Hughes, P.

Authors

M. Hughes

R.E. Morgan

R.D. Ireland

P. Hughes

Abstract

Theoretically, social capital allows entrepreneurial firms to capitalize on learning advantages of newness and gain access to knowledge as the foundation for improved performance. But this understates its complexity. We consider whether learning through social capital relationships has a direct effect on performance and whether absorptive capacity mediates and moderates this relationship. We find that network-based learning has no direct relationship with performance, but this is mediated in each instance by absorptive capacity and is moderated twice. Our findings challenge the learning advantages of newness thesis and reveal how absorptive capacity can enable business performance from a firm's network relationships.

Citation

Hughes, M., Morgan, R., Ireland, R., & Hughes, P. (2014). Social Capital and Learning Advantages: A Problem of Absorptive Capacity. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 8(3), 214-233. https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1162

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Jan 13, 2014
Publication Date	Sep 1, 2014
Deposit Date	May 7, 2013
Publicly Available Date	Mar 13, 2014
Journal	Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal
Print ISSN	1932-4391
Electronic ISSN	1932-443X
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	8
Issue	3
Pages	214-233
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1162
Keywords	Social capital, Learning advantages of newness, Absorptive capacity, Network-based learning, Entrepreneurial firms.
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1454841

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Copyright Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Hughes, M., Morgan, R. E., Ireland, R. D. and Hughes, P. (2014), Social Capital and Learning Advantages: A Problem of Absorptive Capacity. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 8 (3): 214–233, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sej.1162. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.