How Social Entrepreneurs Access Resources: A Relational Chain Approach

Abstract

Very little research has described how social entrepreneurs leverage their social networks to tap resources, especially in their local environment which has been proven to be crucial in the early stages of their venture. To address this gap, we draw on economic geography and, more specifically, the work of Grossetti on relational chains of individual entrepreneurs. We interviewed and collected data on 40 social entrepreneurs, all based in the Grenoble region of France. The analysis through a quantified narrations approach led to two surprising results: first, contrary to commercial ventures, the local embeddedness of social entrepreneurs increases through time. Second, personal ties of social entrepreneurs – both weak and strong – play only a small role in the access to resources unlike local institutional and market ties. We finally elaborate some theoretical propositions to explain these intriguing results and discuss their implications for the literature on social entrepreneurship.