Exploring the Impact of Social Media Usage Frequency, Prior Knowledge, and Online Social Capital on Opportunity Recognition

Online social capital (OSC) is of great significance to the sustainable development of peasant e-entrepreneurs in the era of social media. The objective of this research was to explore how peasant e-entrepreneurs acquire and utilize OSC through the use of social media. This study proposes an analytical framework of “social media behaviors–OSC–resource acquisition” including the moderating effect of offline social capital. An empirical test was conducted using data from 306 surveys from China and the partial least squares method (PLS). The results show that (1) self-presentation and browsing behaviors have significant positive effects on both bridging and bonding OSC; communication behaviors only have a significant positive effect on bonding OSC; and self-presentation behaviors have the greatest effect on both types of OSC. (2) Both bridging and bonding OSC have significant positive effects on resource acquisition, and bonding OSC has a greater effect. (3) Offline social capital has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between bonding OSC and resource acquisition but does not have that effect on bridging OSC. These findings contribute to the extant social capital literature and provide references for peasant e-entrepreneurs to better acquire and utilize OSC by exploring the antecedents and impacts of OSC in the context of peasant e-entrepreneur in China.

The present study investigates how online social capital developed through social media (SM) usage influences employees’ innovative job performance in the Malaysian public sector, with work engagement as a mediator. It addresses a limited understanding of how online connections specifically network ties, shared vision, and trust, function digitally to enhance engagement and innovation. Employing a quantitative, cross-sectional survey, data from 313 Malaysian public sector employees were analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Established scales measured online social capital, work engagement, and innovative job performance. Results show that network ties and trust significantly enhance work engagement, subsequently improving innovative job performance. Work engagement mediates the relationships between network ties and innovative job performance, as well as trust and innovative job performance. In contrast, a shared vision neither influences work engagement nor indirectly affects innovative performance. These findings highlight that the quality of digital social relationships, rather than shared workplace norms, drives employee involvement and innovation. This study contributes to organizational behavior literature by integrating online social capital and work engagement research in a public sector setting. It underscores the strategic importance of SM platforms in building meaningful digital connections, providing evidence that online trust and network ties serve as catalysts for enhancing employee engagement and innovative performance. The insights gained inform policymakers, industrial leaders, and researchers on optimizing workforce potential within technology-driven environments, ultimately supporting more effective public service innovation.

This paper investigates how opportunities in foreign countries are identified by SMEs. The study aims to address the following research questions: 1 How do previous international knowledge and network of relationships influence SMEs’ recognition of opportunities in international markets? 2 Are there differences in the approach about opportunity recognition towards psychic distant countries compared to close ones? The methodology is based on a multiple case study of Italian SMEs operating in the manufacturing industry. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews to companies’ entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that while in close markets the lack of an extensive prior knowledge and experience leads to passive networking and unexpected discovery of business opportunities rather than a purposeful search for them, within psychic distant countries, the pattern of opportunity recognition differs and does not appear to be influenced by the stock of information and resources already possessed. Even though these results cannot be generalised, the study identifies a possible model of the opportunity recognition process, in which the different roles played by prior knowledge and the networks combined with psychic distance are stressed.

The impact of social capital on entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents: Differences between social capital online and offline

This paper aims to describe how videos affect human behavior, especially teenagers and other major human beings. Given the large number of young adults who use short video social media (e.g., TikTok, Douyin, and Kuaishou) in rural China, understanding how the use of such platforms affects their subjective wellbeing is crucial. This study examines the mediating roles of online social capital and upward social comparison in the relationships between short video social media use (intensity, active vs. passive use) and subjective wellbeing using data gathered from a web-based survey of 412 young adults living in rural China. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that active short video use is associated with a greater level of online social capital, which in turn is related positively to subjective wellbeing. Passive short video use is negatively associated with online social capital. Active short video use is also associated with a greater level of upward social comparison, whereas passive short video use is negatively associated with upward social comparison. Nevertheless, the relationship between upward social comparison and subjective wellbeing is not statistically significant. Use intensity was associated with neither online social capital nor upward social comparison. The findings extend the understanding of the psychologically powerful nature of short video social media platforms and their effects on subjective wellbeing among Chinese rural young adults.

The influence of Chinese university students' entrepreneurial experience, alertness, and prior knowledge on opportunity recognition was examined using the novice–experienced entrepreneurs contrast paradigm. After viewing a self-made opportunity situation, 94 entrepreneurial university students and 114 nonentrepreneurial university students were instructed to complete via email or paper and pencil tests measures of opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial alertness, and prior knowledge. The results showed that entrepreneurial alertness significantly and directly predicted opportunity recognition, whereas prior knowledge significantly and indirectly affected opportunity recognition through its impact on entrepreneurial alertness. The entrepreneurial alertness of nonentrepreneurial university students significantly influenced their opportunity recognition; in contrast, the prior knowledge of entrepreneurial university students greatly influenced their opportunity recognition. Practical implications for entrepreneurial training and future directions for research on opportunity recognition are discussed.

This study aims to explore the main drivers of recognizing a circular economy business opportunity. In this multiple case study with six entrepreneurs from the wood construction industry is a relevant part of the circular economy because its essential component is a sustainable and renewable material (trees/wood) that reduces carbon emissions. This study contributes to previous research by showing that six traditional drivers influence the entrepreneur’s recognition of business opportunities: environmental conditions, social capital, prior knowledge, systematic search, cognition and entrepreneurial alertness. Moreover, they are intertwined in the complex and processual phenomenon known as business opportunity. Furthermore, for the drivers of sustainable opportunity recognition, prior knowledge on environment and altruism are critical. The recognition of opportunity is not solely based on any of the individual drivers; rather, it relies mostly on continuous interaction with the network when the entrepreneur is creating a business opportunity.

This paper investigates the moderating effect of national cultural contexts on the relationship between social networks and opportunity recognition. Data obtained from Taiwan and the United States support the proposition that cultural contexts, specifically the individualism‐collectivism dimension, moderate the relationship between tie strength, structural holes, and opportunity recognition. Results indicate that in the United States, tie strength is negatively associated with opportunity identification and structural holes are positively associated with opportunity identification; whereas in Taiwan we find the opposite. The results also show that the interaction effect between bridging ties and tie strength on opportunity recognition varies depending on the cultural context. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose– In order to answer why and how some individuals identify opportunities, the purpose of this paper is to offer a comprehensive framework of key effective factors that investigates the role of prior knowledge and cognitive characteristics of entrepreneurial alertness and learning in the entrepreneurial opportunities recognition process.Design/methodology/approach– First, the authors identified key effective factors and developed research hypotheses and conceptual model. Second, the authors considered research methodology including sampling and data collection, measurement model. The third section presents a report of the results from the analysis of the structural model and the hypotheses tests.Findings– The findings show that all the three factors had positive impact on opportunity recognition. It is also confirmed that prior knowledge has significant impact on entrepreneurial alertness and learning. Finally, the results demonstrate that both entrepreneurial alertness and learning partially mediated the relationship between prior knowledge and opportunity recognition.Research limitations/implications– Possible effects of other cognitive characteristics such as creativity and innovation can be considered in the model to increase accuracy of the findings. Also, comparative studies with the proposed framework in different industrial domains can be conducted in order to compare the possible differences concerning the role of the factors in opportunity recognition.Practical implications– By using this model, entrepreneurs will be able to identify and enhance the factors that influence opportunity recognition, thus honing this entrepreneurial ability. Also, this framework can be employed in the field of education to identify opportunity recognition problems in individuals and to foster entrepreneurs.Originality/value– This paper presents a new integrated model that would examine the impact of key effective factors of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition simultaneously while taking into account the interactions among them.

ABSTRACTThis study investigated how social media use and online social capital might have influenced social trust and risk perception of a public health crisis in China. It also tested the validity and reliability of the online social capital measurement in the context of a Chinese food-safety crisis. Study findings validated the impact of online social capital on social trust and risk perception. In addition, two new dimensions of online social capital scale were identified; these two dimensions are in parallel to Putnam’s [2000. Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of american community. New York: Simon and Schuster] conception of ‘bonding social capital’ and ‘bridging social capital.’ Social and policy implications of the study results are discussed.

The ability to recognize and develop an opportunity into a venture defines an entrepreneur. Research in opportunity recognition has been robust and focuses more on explaining the processes involved in opportunity recognition. Factors such as prior knowledge, cognitive and creative capabilities are shown to affect opportunity recognition in entrepreneurs. Prior knowledge in areas such as customer problems, ways to serve the market, and technology has been shows in various studies to be a factor that facilitates entrepreneurs to identify and recognize opportunities. Findings from research also shows that experienced entrepreneurs search and scan for information to discover opportunities. Searching and scanning for information has also been shown to help novice entrepreneurs who lack prior knowledge to narrow this gap and enable them to better identify and recognize opportunities. There is less focus in research on finding empirically proven techniques and methods to develop and enhance opportunity recognition in student entrepreneurs. This is important as the country pushes for more graduate entrepreneurs that can drive the economy. This paper aims to discuss Opportunity Recognition Support System (ORSS), an information support system to help especially student entrepreneurs in identifying and recognizing business opportunities. The ORSS aims to provide the necessary knowledge to student entrepreneurs to be able to better identify and recognize opportunities. Applying design research, theories in opportunity recognition are applied to identify the requirements for the support system and the requirements in turn dictate the design of the support system. The paper proposes the use of web content mining and analytics as two core components and techniques for the support system. Web content mining can mine the vast knowledge repositories available on the internet and analytics can provide entrepreneurs with further insights into the information needed to recognize opportunities in a given market or industry.

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to explore students’ digital entrepreneurial intention (DEI) in Kuwait. Specifically, the aim is twofold: (i) to identify and examine the factors influencing and predicting students’ DEI, and (ii) to validate a model of DEI. Background: The advent of modern digital technologies has provided entrepreneurs with many opportunities to establish and expand their firms through online platforms. Although the existing literature on DEI has explored various factors, certain factors that could be linked to DEI have been neglected, and others have not been given sufficient attention. Nonetheless, there has been little research on students’ DEI, particularly in Kuwait. Methodology: To fulfill the research’s aims, a study was conducted using a quantitative method (a survey of 305 students at a non-profit university in Kuwait). Contribution: This study aimed to fill the research gap on the limited DEI research among Kuwait’s students. Several recommendations were suggested to improve the DEI among students in Kuwait. Findings: The study identified five factors that could influence an individual’s intention to engage in digital entrepreneurship. These factors include self-perceived creativity, social media use, risk-taking and opportunity recognition, digital entrepreneurship knowledge, and entrepreneurial self-perceived confidence. Significant solid correlations were between all five identified factors and DEI. However, only self-perceived creativity and entrepreneurial self-perceived confidence were identified as significant positive predictors of DEI among undergraduates in Kuwait. Nevertheless, the main contributor to this intention was the students’ self-perceived confidence as entrepreneurs. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers should conduct further longitudinal studies to understand better the dynamic nature of DEI and execution. Future Research: Additional research is required to utilize probability sampling approaches and increase the sample size for more generalizable findings.

Navigating Social Media in #Ophthalmology

Engineers are often assumed to have the ability to develop products at the latest technological level and thus to identify business opportunities and, subsequently, entrepreneurial opportunities. This paper investigates whether the ability to recognise entrepreneurial opportunities is already present in industrial engineering students and by which variables this ability is influenced. In order to determine this, the term opportunities and the construct ‘opportunity recognition’ are discussed at the beginning and their influencing variables are shown. As part of the quantitative research design, an online questionnaire (N = 354) was used to determine whether opportunity recognition is also prevalent among technical students and which variables influence this ability. The results show that opportunity recognition is present among industrial engineering students. In addition, as discussed in the literature, it was shown that the variables cognition, traits and social capital have an influence on opportunity recognition. Only prior knowledge, represented by experience in a practical context, could not be confirmed. The implication of this work is that universities and universities of applied sciences should increasingly encourage entrepreneurship amongst technical and particularly industrial engineering students.KeywordsOpportunitiesOpportunity recognitionEngineering students

PurposeDespite intense scholarly interest in social entrepreneurship, opportunity recognition remains a poorly understood facet of the phenomenon. Linkages between the micro- and macro-level forces shaping social entrepreneurship are particularly unclear. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of institutional channeling, the process by which institutions socialize and direct individuals into specific knowledge corridors, as a key mechanism influencing the ability of entrepreneurs to identify and create different types of opportunities.Design/methodology/approachThrough a synthesis of institutional theory and the knowledge corridor thesis, this research offers a theory explaining why some individuals are able to recognize opportunities for social entrepreneurship.FindingsThe authors develop a conceptual model that explains how non-contested institutions channel entrepreneurs into homogeneous knowledge corridors, which support the creation of purely for-profit and non-profit organizations. By contrast, experiences involving institutional plurality activate and enable heterogeneous knowledge corridors, which are associated with the ability to recognize opportunities, like social entrepreneurship, that blend institutions.Originality/valueThe central contribution of this paper is an explanation of why certain individuals, because of their institutional experiences, are more likely than others to recognize for-profit, non-profit and social opportunities. This article highlights that previous efforts at addressing this issue were predominantly centered at the micro level of analysis and focus on individual entrepreneurs and their identities, personality traits and social networks. Although these studies have shed light on important facets of opportunity recognition, they do not sufficiently explain the influence that institutions can have on the micro processes involved in social entrepreneurship opportunity recognition.