Title: The relevance of social capital in the form of network brokerage, network cohesion and network homophily to intrapreneurship

Authors: Boris Urban; Jefferson Yu-Jen Chen; Kelisha Panday

Addresses: Graduate School of Management, University of Witwatersrand, 2 St. Davids Place, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2190, South Africa ' Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, 26 Melville Rd., Illovo, Johannesburg, 2196, South Africa ' Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, 26 Melville Rd., Illovo, Johannesburg, 2196, South Africa

Abstract: Research acknowledges that innovation within an organisation is as much of a social phenomenon as a technical one, signifying the importance of social capital to develop intrapreneurship. Given there are several unresolved issues concerning the various forms of social capital on intrapreneuring, the study seeks to establish to what extent does social capital in the form of network brokerage, social network cohesion and network homophily influence intrapreneurship. A survey is administered internationally to middle managers as they have an integrative role enabling them to shape intrapreneurial behaviour in an organisation. Findings show positive and significant results for all the study hypotheses, where network building, network influence, bridging, trust, reciprocity, and relationship linking all demonstrate large predictive relevancy values in terms of the study model. The relevance of the significant findings is apparent when considering that activities associated with fostering network brokerage and social cohesion can explain intrapreneurship.

Keywords: intrapreneurship; corporate entrepreneurship; innovation; social capital; network brokerage; social network cohesion; network homophily.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2025.147667

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2025 Vol.37 No.4, pp.428 - 447

Received: 29 Sep 2021
Accepted: 07 Jul 2022
Published online: 25 Jul 2025 *

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