Social Capital and Economic Performance for Small and Medium Firms: The Importance of Entrepreneurship Experience and Relationships

This work analyzes the networks of personal, institutional, associative, and professional relationships in which the entrepreneur is involved and the resources that are integrated into them, and it proposes that social capital resources are determinants of the performance of his business. The effect of social capital resources is moderated by the experience of the entrepreneur. A questionnaire survey and a quota sample of ۳۱۰ small and medium-sized enterprises in Tunisia were used to test the proposed hypotheses during the period from May to December ۲۰۱۹. The results show that economic performance is positively influenced by the resources of the institutional and professional network than through other resources. However, in the sector, the experience of the entrepreneur reinforces the impact of institutional and professional resources.

Keywords:

Entrepreneur , Experience , Networks , Relationship , Resource , Social capital