Social Capital Formation in EU ICT SMEs: The Role Played by the Mobility of Knowledge Workers

• Published date: 01 December 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12113
• Date: 01 December 2017

Social Capital Formation in EU ICT SMEs:

The Role Played by the Mobility of

Knowledge Workers

KANELLOS-PANAGIOTIS NIKOLOPOULOS

1

and LEO-PAUL DANA

2

1

School of Management, Open Universitiet Nederland, Schoolof Management, Heerlen, the Netherlands

2

Montpellier Business School, Montpellier, France

This paperaims to describe the processof social capital formation in informationand communicationtechnologies

(ICT) small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in incubators in various European Union regions as part of the

entrepreneurial process. It provides insights regarding understanding the growth process in EU ICT SMEs by

connectingthe formation of social capital andnetworks with current work trendsof ICT knowledge workers.Utilising

Bourdieu and Wacquant’s reflexive sociology and their comprehensive theory of capital transformation, including

cultural capital,it stresses the central role played by social capital formation in company growthin the sector under

study. Simultaneously, it provides a theoretical explanation for challenges ICT entrepreneurs face in this process

because of changing workpatterns.

Keywords: social capital; ICT SMEs; knowledge management; knowledge workers

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role played by the

mobility of knowledge workers in social capital formation

in ICT SMEs and in particular the work trends associated

with the various forms of their mobility. In order to do so

it will utilise Bourdieu and Wacquant’sReflexive sociology

(1992) to provide a theoretical explanation for the

phenomenon under study. During the paper it will be

demonstrated that social capital formation in relation to

the mobility of knowledge workers is a multi-faceted

phenomenon that needs interdisciplinary research.

Castells (2004) points out that in the information

economy, compan ies increasingly compete on the basis

of innovation. To this end, hi-tech companies like the

ICT SMEs of our study, organise themselves as networks

that increasingly create products based on information

(symbol) processing (Himanen, 2004). The role of this

information (symbol) processing grows as network

enterprises organise themselves as ever-changing

networks of workers since the informational economy is

about growth based on innovation. Therefore,

organisational innovation includes knowledge workers.

As innovation does not occur in isolation, researchers

consider the creation of social capital a prerequisite. Jack

et al. (2009) present us with an extensive account of

relevant studies on the importance of social capital in

entrepreneurial and management studies. Still, a

theoretical framework is lacking for the creation of social

capital in innovative hi-tech SMEs.

(Schumpeter, 1934: 85) defines an entrepreneur as a

‘heroic economic superman’who possesses qualities of

‘rationality and ‘self-centredness’and entrepreneurial

process as a systemic function. Goss (2005) opposes the

above definition and suggests that one should view

entrepreneurship as a form of social action whereby

entrepreneurs are social agents that learn by doing and

develop their entrepreneurial identities in interaction with

others in a socio-economic context. For Goss (2005)

entrepreneurial activities are embedded within social

practices. Hosking and Hjorth’s (2004) approach of

‘relational’or ‘social’constructionism es pouses this view

of entrepreneurship as it involves moving the centre of

attention from individuals (in our case entrepreneurs) to

relational processes.

Analysis of the entrepreneurial behaviouris incomplete

if it does not include the role of social capital

(Kwiatowski, 2004). Entrepreneurs use their social and

personal networks (their ‘strong ties’) in the realisation

of an opportunity (Granovetter, 1973; Chell & Baines,

Correspondence: Kanellos-Panagiotis Nikolopoulos, School of

Management, Open Universitiet Nederland, School of Management,

Heerlen, theNetherlands. E-mail kpnikolopoulos70@yahoo.gr

European Management Review, Vol. 14, 409–422, (2017)

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12113

©2017 European Academy of Management