Title: Social capital, absorptive capacity and entrepreneurial behaviour in an international context

Authors: Ignacio Castro; Gabriel Cepeda

Addresses: Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain ' Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain

Abstract: This study proposes a learning-based model that contributes to understanding the international growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. It shows the influence of the social capital of the firm on external access to and exploitation of knowledge and how this in turn affects entrepreneurial orientation. This model is tested with structural equation modelling (Partial Least Squares) applied to a sample of 178 international Spanish firms. Our results emphasise, on the one hand, the importance of managing inter-organisational relationships in the learning processes of the firm and, on the other, how knowledge exploitation exerts a significant influence on the firm's entrepreneurial behaviour and, therefore, how it is a decisive force in international expansion.

Keywords: knowledge acquisition; knowledge exploitation; partial least squares; PLS; international expansion; SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; knowledge-based view; KBV; social capital; absorptive capacity; entrepreneurial behaviour; internationalisation; SME growth; entrepreneurial orientation; structural equation modelling; SEM; PLS-SEM; Spain; inter-organisational relationships; organisational learning.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2016.077426

European Journal of International Management, 2016 Vol.10 No.4, pp.479 - 495

Published online: 30 Jun 2016 *

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