Managerial ties, organizational learning, and opportunity capture: A social capital perspective

Abstract

From a social capital perspective, this article investigates how entrepreneurs in new ventures utilize their managerial ties (consisting of ties with other firms and ties with government) to capture opportunity. We also explore the moderating role of organizational learning (via exploratory learning and exploitative learning) in this process. Drawing on a sample of 159 new ventures, we find that ties with other firms have a stronger positive effect on opportunity capture than ties with government. We also find that organizational learning moderates the relationship between managerial ties and opportunity capture. Overall, our contributions center on an integrated view of organizational learning, social relationships, and opportunity capture.