Tipos de contaminación

Human capital of entrepreneurs is an important predictor for performance. However, as noted above, returns to human capital are not entirely robust, for instance, for typical dimensions such as education (Lee and Tsang, 2001; Stuart and Abetti, 1990; Tan and Tay, 1994), entrepreneurial start-up experience (West and Noel, 2009; Wright et al., 1998), and industry experience (Dimov, 2010; Hmieleski et al., 2015).

3.5.1 Mixed returns for performance

In their 18-month longitudinal study of 380 nascent entrepreneurs compared to a control group of 608 non-entrepreneurs in Sweden, Davidsson and Honig (2003) looked at several entrepreneurial outcomes, including gestation activities and first sales and profits. While formal education, including general schooling and specific business classes, and prior start-up experience influenced nascent entrepreneurial activities, they did not positively predict first sales or profitability. Exploring these

17 _{Empirical results of this study support these findings regarding the distribution of education by age.} 18

In Bradley et al. (2012), for instance, the question was asked, “Did your parents ever work for themselves or run their own business?” Brüderl et al. (1992) gathered similar data related to self- employment history of the founder’s father. While this line of inquiry might be relevant to younger Chinese from entrepreneurial families, it was not thought to be widely appropriate for all generations in the Chinese setting.

54

mixed findings, especially the lack of returns to education, Davidsson and Honig (2003: 322) observed that human capital “clearly facilitates entrepreneurial discovery and to some extent the ability to get ahead with the exploitation process”, but concluded that it was “not enough to ensure its successful completion.”

This argument, based on a study in Sweden, reflects similar comments by authors in both developed and emerging economies that see human capital alone as valuable but not sufficient to generate performance (Bradley et al., 2012; Hmieleski and Corbett, 2008), leading to the exploration of other influences on venture outcomes.

3.5.2 Influence of other factors

Numerous other factors may influence the effects of human capital dimensions on venture performance. Potential moderating influences include individual attributes of the entrepreneur, the entrepreneur’s connection to their environment via social networks, and wholly external factors such as industry environment and larger economic forces.

For instance, given only modest or statistically non-significant main effects of human capital on sales and profits, Davidsson and Honig (2003: 322) found strong positive main effects for different dimensions of social capital. The authors proposed, but did not test, that “human capital facilitates success only in conjunction with adequate levels of appropriate social capital”. They, and other scholars, have called for greater investigation into the role of entrepreneurs’ social capital as well as human capital and the effects of large or diverse social networks (Bosma et al., 2004; Marvel et al., 2016).

Given differences in the results of many human capital studies over the last three decades, Unger et al. (2011) also called for examination of moderators or contingencies to the impact of human capital variables on entrepreneurial success. Similarly, Marvel et al. (2014) recommended examination of moderators relative to human capital and venture outcomes, including research integrating human capital, social networks, and motivational perspectives relevant to entrepreneurs.

55 3.6 Gaps and research opportunities

This review of the relevant literature presents the main current ideas relating to individual human capital as a driver of growth for small enterprises, including in emerging economies. Gaps in the human capital literature include the following:

 Limited work has been carried out regarding the impact of specific dimensions of founders’ human capital on venture growth in combination with other types of capital, for instance social capital and psychological capital (Bosma et al., 2004; Brüderl et al., 1992; Davidsson and Honig, 2003). While previous studies have examined each of these capitals individually, few studies have examined all three together (see Hmieleski et al., 2015 for one exception in the US). In addition, when previous results are mixed or inconclusive, as they have been regarding the impact of human capital on growth, it is appropriate to seek moderators. The current study answers calls to examine contingencies to the effect of human capital on venture outcomes (Marvel et al., 2016; Unger et al., 2011).

 While a few studies have addressed the combination of human capital with other intangible resources, few if any have yet undertaken a detailed exploration of human capital in tandem with other resources for micro-entrepreneurs in a resource-constrained emerging-economy setting. This is important because human capital conditions are different (more constrained); because social capital or

guanxi ties are traditionally valuable, but also entail obligations (Park and Luo, 2001; Tsui et al., 2000); and because psychological capital is thought to make the most difference under very trying conditions (Luthans and Youssef, 2004).

 To date, most work on human capital of small-scale and necessity-based entrepreneurs in very constrained settings has come from micro-economists. Management scholars have thus far done very little research on this topic (Bruton et al., 2013). The current study addresses questions about drivers of MSME growth by applying management theory, which is better suited than economics to unpacking the how and why of resource deployment by micro-entrepreneurs.

56

In their review of human capital research, Marvel et al. (2014) called for more studies integrating a motivational perspective with research on entrepreneurs and human capital. They noted: “Motivation helps the entrepreneur to acquire necessary human capital and provides the impetus and energy to implement needed actions” (Marvel et al., 2016: 14). The current study answers this call by viewing entrepreneurs’ motivation through the lens of psychological capital.