Entrepreneur’s social capital of small hospitality business: a comparative analysis of structural, relational and cognitive dimensions

Abstract

There is a natural connection between the fields of entrepreneurship and social capital, considered as the sum of actual and potential resources that are part of an individual network, an organization or a community. The objective of this study is to analyze entrepreneur’s social capital in small hospitality business, based on the structural, relational and cognitive dimensions, proposed by Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998). This study has a qualitative nature and the research strategy adopted is multiple case studies. Evidences were collected from personal interviews with entrepreneurs of two small hotels and one posada located in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil. The cases were analyzed comparatively. It can be highlighted in the cases analyzed the importance of social capital for the establishment of the business, the role of trust in the relationships and the use of formal and informal networks.