NET AND JET

Abstract

How does the connectivity afforded by new communication and transportation technologies affect entrepreneurs' geographic and social closeness to each other? Using qualitative and quantitative evidence we analyse how Chinese Canadian entrepreneurs combine the Internet and airplane travel in their business activities. Our results show that the use of new communication and transportation technologies are positively related to the creation and maintenance of ‘glocalized’ networks, a function of both local embeddedness and global outreach. We find that online interaction cannot replace face-to-face interaction; travel abroad is crucial for adding a human touch to glocalized networks. Moreover, while technologies help to liberate communication from being local, Internet use and travel have limited impact on the ethnic diversity of the entrepreneurs' social networks.

Keywords:

• computer-mediated communication
• Internet
• travel
• social networks
• social capital
• glocalized networks

Acknowledgements

The research has been supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We greatly appreciate the work done by surveyors and coders for the TIE study, and the respondents who gave generously of their time. We have benefited from the support of colleagues at Duke University, NetLabbers at the University of Toronto and from comments of the participants in the Social Networking Conference at the University of Toronto, November 2007. By happy coincidence, this paper was delivered to the publisher the same day that Wenhong Chen gave birth to a baby boy. We dedicate this paper to him, transnational at birth.