Entrepreneurial Networking Actions and Innovativeness of Opportunities: The Moderator Role of Venture Stage

創業網絡行動與機會創新性：創業階段的調節效果

Developing a social network requires entrepreneurs to perform proactive and strategic actions. This study uses a 2-phase study design to investigate the effects of the performance of two social networking actions by entrepreneurs on the innovativeness of opportunities. During the first phase of the study, we interview 20 entrepreneurs from Taiwan's information and communication technology (ICT) firms. Using qualitative analysis, the result indicates that venture stage changes the effect of the two networking actions on the innovativeness of opportunities. The second phase, retrieves 86 complete questionnaires for an empirical analysis. The results indicate that the action of social network broadening exerts a significant positive effect on the innovativeness of opportunities. Furthermore, the positive effects of social network broadening on the innovativeness of opportunities is greater among early-stage ventures than late-stage ventures. Conversely, the positive effects of social network deepening on the innovativeness of opportunities is significantly greater among late-stage ventures than early-stage ventures.

本研究指出創業者發展社會網絡應是主動且有策略性之行動，以兩階段研究調查創業者採取之社會網絡行動（網絡擴展與網絡深化）對機會創新性之影響。第一階段針對20位台灣資通訊產業（ICT）創業者，進行深度訪談與質性分析，結果發現前述關係會因為創業階段而受到影響。在第二個階段以2000位資通訊產業創業者為問卷發放對象，共回收86份問卷進行實證分析。研究結果發現網絡擴展行動對機會創新性呈現正向顯著影響效果；但在同樣採取網絡擴展的情況下，新設企業對創新機會的影響會比現有企業來的高。相反地，採取網絡深化的情形下，現有企業在創新機會的影響上則會比新設企業來的顯著。