MINORITY BUSINESS NETWORKS AS SOURCES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR MINORITY FIRMS

Abstract

Much of our understanding concerning minority-owned firms is based on nascent entrepreneurial businesses. Therefore, it is difficult to answer the question of how a minority-owned firm's age and size may influence the social capital derived from a minority business network. We utilize a resource-dependence perspective to hypothesize that the social capital derived from participation in a minority business network will be negatively related to the minority-owned firm's age and size. We find that firm size (as measured by revenue and number of employees) is negatively related with social capital derived from the minority business network. Our findings may help minority business owners understand the relative value of membership in minority business networks before committing limited resources.