Title: Foreign entrepreneurs' social networks and business performance: contingent effects of political networking and policy uncertainty

Authors: Ali Ahmad Bodla; Yuan Li; Ali Nawaz Khan; Longwei Tian

Addresses: Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China ' School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China ' Department of Management, HSE University, Saint Petersburg, Russia ' School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Abstract: This study explores how foreign entrepreneurs' social networks influence their business venture performance and how government policy uncertainty and political networking moderate the relationship. Using survey data from foreign business ventures in China, we find that foreign entrepreneurs' network structural holes significantly contribute to their business venture performance, but government policy uncertainty negatively moderates this relationship. It suggests that the positive relationship between network structural holes and business venture performance is reinforced by political networking, especially when government policy uncertainty is low. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship and social network literature and provides a profound understanding of the mechanism that facilitates foreign business venture performance.

Keywords: foreign entrepreneurs; social network structures; government policy uncertainty; political networking; business venture performance; emerging economy.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2025.149297

European Journal of International Management, 2025 Vol.27 No.3, pp.384 - 407

Received: 05 Feb 2021
Accepted: 09 Jul 2021
Published online: 24 Oct 2025 *

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