Human capital and career success of creative entrepreneurs: is guanxi network a missing link?

Abstract

Entrepreneurial human capital has long been regarded as the determinant of entrepreneurial career success. Guanxi, which embodies Chinese entrepreneurs’ informal networks, is an advantage-seeking behavior prevalent in the emerging industry sectors, such as creative industries. As a rising industry sector which consists of mostly small businesses and start-ups, creative industries are increasingly a theoretical focus in the recent entrepreneurship research. Therefore, we draw upon the guanxi perspective to investigate the relationship between human capital, social capital, and entrepreneurial career success in creative industries. This paper examines a sample of 133 creative entrepreneurs in Taiwan. Results reveal that entrepreneurs’ human capital is related to their guanxi networks, which in turn are associated with new venture performance and entrepreneurial career success. Specifically, both business ties and government ties are found to benefit from the entrepreneurial experience and educational level, whereas prior work experience of entrepreneurs shows no significant effect on improving guanxi networks. Our findings furthermore suggest that entrepreneurs’ family ties, business ties, and government ties are conducive to their social reputation, career achievement, entrepreneurial satisfaction, and firm profitability. Interestingly, our results indicate that community ties may weaken entrepreneurs’ career achievement. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Le capital humain entrepreneurial est depuis longtemps considéré comme le déterminant du succès de la carrière entrepreneuriale. Le guanxi – qui incarne les réseaux informels des entrepreneurs chinois – est un comportement de recherche d'avantages prévalent dans les secteurs industriels émergents, tels que celui de l'industrie de la création. En tant que secteur industriel composé essentiellement de petites entreprises et de start-ups, les industries de la création constituent de plus en plus un axe théorique de la recherche sur l'entrepreneuriat récente. Par conséquent, nous avons utilisé le prisme du guanxi pour examiner le rapport entre le capital humain, le capital social et le succès de la carrière entrepreneuriale dans l'industrie de la création. Cet article examine un échantillon composé de 133 entrepreneurs de la création à Taïwan. Les résultats révèlent que le capital humain des entrepreneurs est en rapport avec leurs réseaux guanxi, qui à leur tour sont associés à la performance des nouvelles entreprises et au succès de la carrière entrepreneuriale. Plus précisément, il est démontré que les liens commerciaux, comme les liens avec les autorités gouvernementales, bénéficient de l'expérience entrepreneuriale et du niveau d’éducation, alors que l'expérience professionnelle préalable des entrepreneurs n'a pas d'impact significatif en termes d'amélioration des réseaux guanxi. De plus, nos résultats laissent entendre que les liens familiaux, commerciaux et avec les autorités gouvernementales des entrepreneurs favorisent la réputation sociale, la réalisation professionnelle, la satisfaction entrepreneuriale et la profitabilité des firmes de ces derniers. De manière assez intéressante, nos résultats indiquent que les liens communautaires peuvent affaiblir la réalisation de la carrière des entrepreneurs. Les implications théoriques et pratiques de ces résultats sont commentées.

Keywords:

• creative entrepreneurs
• human capital
• Guanxi networks
• career success
• firm performance

Mots-clés:

• entrepreneurs de la création
• capital humain
• réseaux guanxi
• succès de la carrière
• performance des entreprises

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of the previous version of this paper for their invaluable suggestions and insights.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, for funding this project [MOST 103-2410-H-005-061-MY3].

Notes on contributors

Ming-Huei Chen

Dr. Ming-Huei Chen is a chair professor at College of Management, Asia University, Taiwan. Dr. Chen completed her PhD from the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK. Her works have appeared in British Journal of Management, R&D Management, Research Policy, Creativity and Innovation Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, and so on. She teaches postgraduate-level Creativity and Innovation Management courses, and lectures on creative problem-solving methods in company's training programs. Her current research focuses on creativity in teams, entrepreneurship and leadership, intellectual capital management, and creative industry.

Yu-Yu Chang

Dr. Yu-Yu Chang is an assistant professor at Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Dr. Chang earns his doctoral degree at the Graduate Institute of Technology Management, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. His current research focuses on entrepreneurship, social capital, and creativity. He has published papers in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Business Research, and Creativity and Innovation Management Journal.

Meng-Ta Chiang

Meng-Ta Chiang earns his MBA degree at the Graduate Institute of Technology Management, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan.