THE PROCESS APPROACH in USING SOCIAL NETWORKS: EVALUATING the DIFFERANTIATION of ENTERPRENEURS’ USAGE of SOCIAL NETWORKS

Yıl 2012, Cilt: 12 Sayı: 23, 125 - 156, 01.06.2012

Umut Sanem Çitçi Recai Çoşkun

Öz

Entrepreneurship is a subject matter which is frequently studied because of its
potential of improving welfare in economic systems. This research interest on
entrepreneurship brings about different studies which ask qualitatively different questions.
Particularly at the recent times, it is observed that the studies which are relating social
capital and social networks to entrepreneurship are increasing in number. The basic factor
which lies at the roots of the development of this field is the aspiration of explaining the
success of entrepreneurs. The factors which lie behind the entrepreneurial success can be
distinguished as individual and environmental factors. Individual factors consist of the
personal characteristics of the individual and her/his ability of utilizing these
qualifications with an entrepreneurial focus. Environmental factors, on the other hand
stem from the fact that individuals live within a community and that community offer
them opportunities to be an entrepreneur or to sustaining their entrepreneurial course. But
such a dual division deduces a multi-dimensional social phenomenon to a one-sided one
which causes lack of understanding. This fact promotes the researchers for finding new
areas of explanation. This study is also an outcome of such a pursuit. This study is
constructed to claim that in entrepreneurship social capital and social networks can be
concerned as an interface between individual and environmental factors. Putting it more
clearly, the claim of the study is that, social capital and social networks offer a much more
comprehensive framework for the explanation of entrepreneurial success because of their
inclusion of both individual and environmental factors.
To be able to support our claim we needed an instrument that provides us the
possibility of directly tracing the relationship between social capital, social network and
entrepreneurship. Concerning that social capital and social networks are dynamic in
nature; this instrument must be able to make us understand especially the historical
change. Thus, we thought that the entrepreneurial process can be a special instrument for
understanding the relations of social capital and social networks. The understanding of the
dynamic nature of social capital and social networks can only be possible by focusing on
the process rather than outcomes. Hence, drawing on a process approach, this study
focuses on the differentiation among the usages of social networks by the entrepreneurs.
The reason of why we conduct the research through social networks, leaving the social
capital outside the study, is that the concept of social network is much more convenient
for understanding the differentiation among the usages during the process, comparing to
the concept of social capital. Thus with its “process based differentiation” perspective,
this study differs from the “holistic” studies on social networks and entrepreneurship.
The entrepreneurial process is composed of phases starting from the entrepreneurial
intent and ending with the disappearance of “the thing” which is subject to the enterprise.
The entrepreneurs use a composition of humane, financial and social capital factors,
during this process. Social capital is particularly significant because of its power of
affecting the level of usage of the other types of capital. But this significance differs in
accordance with the phase of the entrepreneurial process as well as the usages of social
capital through the social networks. When the entrepreneurial process is assessed by
concerning its phases, it displays both the variation of the established connections and
their forms of usage, and how the entrepreneurs consciously/deliberately manage this situation. Thus the main argument of this study is that the social networks are being used
by the entrepreneurs in different ways in different phases of the entrepreneurial process
and so these must be handled as deliberately managed success factors.
In the current study initially we touch upon to the meanings of Individualistic and
Environmentalist Schools in terms of entrepreneurship and the reason of why it is
important for the literature to place social networks as an interface. Following this
introduction we define social networks according to our perspective. The definition of
social network which is given here makes it possible for us to develop a new point of
view to the entrepreneurial process and evaluating this process by the usage of social
networks. At this point we propose a new model in which social networks are positioned
in the entrepreneurial process that we believe strengthens the originality of the paper. The
mentioned model is composed of four basic stages. These stages differ from each other
concerning both the historical evolution which the entrepreneur undergoes and the
character and usage of the social networks. The stages are formulated as to display the
dynamism of the process. Eventually we give place to a qualitative research which aimed
at displaying the operation of the process. Regarding that the entrepreneurial process
encompasses a long period, we needed to collect data covering a long period of life of the
entrepreneurs.
The aim of understanding how the entrepreneurs are viewing the social relationships,
how they evaluate the social networks and how they establish and use these networks,
guided the data collection process of this work. Only by this way we were able to assess
the differentiation of the forms of usage of social networks in a view based on their
entrepreneurial processes. As this study includes a limited number of entrepreneur’s life
story and a limited number of interviews conducted with the entrepreneurs, it should be
noted that the concern of this study is not making generalization but to understand the
phenomena it is focused. We chose Convenience and Purposive Sampling methods
regarding the aim of the study. The entrepreneurs for the interviews are selected by
Convenience sampling, and the life-stories by Purposive sampling. To be able to avoid the
restrictions of Convenience sampling, we applied the condition of being an entrepreneur
for at least ten years. As for the usage of secondary resources i.e. life stories, since it is
aimed reaching data which were not possible to gather during the interviews, we used
intentional sampling. The data which were gathered through the interviews and from the
documents were applied “qualitative content analysis” method. As the aim of this research
was not making generalizations the findings were thought to be adequate for displaying
the operation of the model proposed.
At the end of the research, in which we have evaluated the operation of the model, we
saw that the entrepreneurs have to meet differing needs and expectations depending on the
phase which they are in; and they develop a social network management while meeting
these needs. The existence of such relationship management factually brings about a
deliberate/conscious mood of establishing and utilizing social networks; since
management is a process in which a goal is defined, the necessary resources for the
realization of this goal are brought together and the degree of achievement is assessed. As
the entrepreneurs act with the desire of success and the concern of practicing their
business ideas, one of their instruments for reaching this end can be social networks; and
the usage of these networks in differing combinations in accordance with their purposes,
can be assessed as usage and management of deliberate/ conscious social networks. This model differs from other process models with its’ two main conclusions: social
networks, due to their nature, subsist in every stages of entrepreneurial process; depending
on the phases, social networks are developed and used in accordance with changing
needs.
These two conclusions make it possible to establish a “connection” between the two
schools of entrepreneurial process. The evaluation of the entrepreneurial process in the
context of social networks and on the base of Individualistic and Environmental schools
has various consequences for both the entrepreneur and the state as the regulatory and
rule-making body. Looking form the side of the entrepreneur it can be claimed that to be
able to meet the needs, which are various in the process, it’s an advantage to have a social
network which is correspondingly various in character. In the literature there can be find
some studies which were focused on the situations in which the entrepreneurs turned this
kind of variety into advantage. We see that by featuring particularly some of the networks
in some periods, the possible obstacles for being successful can be eliminated. Thus we
face the need of focusing on the social network management as well as source and talent
management for the entrepreneurs. For the state, as the macro actor, the development
entrepreneurship has a great significance for the enhancement of prosperity. Thus the
state, which applies various promotion programs for the success of entrepreneurship, must
help the entrepreneurs in network management as an actor itself and by providing the
facilities to meet with other actors.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Process, Social Networks, Social Networks Model

SOSYAL AĞ KULLANIMINDA SÜREÇ YAKLAŞIMI: GİRİŞİMCİLERİN SOSYAL AĞLARI KULLANIMINDA FARKLILAŞMANIN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Öz

Çalışma girişimsel başarıda etkili olduğu bilinen sosyal ağların, girişimsel süreç içinde değerlendirilmesini konu edinmektedir. Çalışmanın temel iddiası, sosyal ağların girişimsel sürecin her aşamasında farklı niteliklere sahip olduğu ve bu farklılaşmanın girişimcileri kasti/bilinçli sosyal ağ kullanımına ittiğini ortaya koymaktır. Girişimsel süreçte sosyal ağların “bütüncül bakış açısı” ile değerlendirildiği çalışmalar yerine sosyal ağlardaki farklılaşmaya odaklanması çalışmayı diğerlerinden ayırmaktadır. Çalışmada girişimsel süreç ve farklılaşan sosyal ağlar dikkate alınarak bir model geliştirme girişiminde bulunulmaktadır. Söz konusu model, girişimsel süreç içindeki temel aşamaları ve her aşamanın getirdiği sosyal ağları ve girişimcilerin bu ağlardan nasıl yararlandıklarını içermektedir. Model, nitel araştırma tasarımıyla yürütülen bir araştırma ile sınanmış ve çalışmanın iddiası desteklenmiştir. Çalışmanın vardığı temel sonuç, girişimcilerin girişimsel süreç içinde sosyal ağlarının farklılaştığı, bu farklılaşmanın kasti/bilinçli sosyal ağ kullanımından kaynaklandığı ve böylece girişimciler açısından sosyal ağ yönetiminden bahsedilebileceğidir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Girişimcilik, Girişimsel Süreç, Sosyal Ağlar, Sosyal Ağlar Modeli