Network structure and firm-level entrepreneurial behavior: The role of market and technological knowledge networks

Abstract

This paper examines how the structural holes of a firm's market and technological knowledge networks affect firm-level entrepreneurial behavior (EB). Our results provide evidence that market network structural holes are positively associated with firm EB, while the technological ones enhance firm-level EB under the condition that an open market network is also in place. Departing from the purely “structuralist” view, which explains network structure effects without considering the content of relationships, our paper provides evidence that the benefits of network structural holes depend on the type of network, as well as on the contingencies generated by different types of relationships.