Research On Structural Model Of Entrepreneurial Social Competence And Its Relationship With Performance

With the fast growth of China economy and the prosperous entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia, more and more researchers were increasingly paying attention to the process during which entrepreneurs interacted with environment. They were trying to make use of social capital and social networks theories in entrepreneurial research. However, little research explored the relationship between entrepreneurs' social competence and performance in competence view. The paper tried to explore the model of entrepreneurial social competence as well as its relationship with performance in competence view.In study I , to understand the concept and critical incidents of entrepreneurial social competence under Chinese culture background, semi-structured interviews with 45 managers were conducted in 32 different entrepreneurial enterprises. Based on interviews, the study initially came up with the construct of entrepreneurial social competence by content analysis. The results indicated that individual entrepreneurial social competence was composed of integrity, social networks, empathy and interpersonal adaptability, and organizational entrepreneurial social competence was composed of mutual association, cognition sharing, and harmony thoughts.In study II, the study conducted a case study on the relationship between organizational entrepreneurial social competence and company performance. Image management department of Transfar Group was selected as a sample and three cases were analyzed with the use of semi-interviews, data analysis and structure refinement. The study showed that mutual association, cognition sharing and harmony thoughts were organizational entrepreneurial social competence of Transfar Group and they had direct effects on company performance. In addition, the study showed that tointegrate the effects of culture and brand constructing, large enterprises were suggested to establish a brand image management department.In studyIII, the study firstly compiled the questionnaire of entrepreneurial social competence based on study I, study II and previous research. Then, the study conducted surveys in entrepreneurial enterprises. Explorative factor analysis and confirmative factor analysis were conducted in 158 and 151 qualified samples respectively. The results indicated that the individual entrepreneurial social competence model composed of integrity, empathy, interpersonal adaptability and social networks was more stable than other models, and the organizational entrepreneurial social competence model composed of mutual association, cognition sharing and harmony thoughts was more stable than other models. Both models had acceptable convergent validities and discriminate validities except for dimensions of interpersonal adaptability and mutual association. Meanwhile, the study showed that individual entrepreneurial social competence had significant variances in individual, organizational, and industry factors, and that organizational entrepreneurial social competence had significant variances in organizational factors.In study IV, the study explored the relationship between entrepreneurial social competence and performance with the use of correlation analysis, multi-regression analysis, and structural equation model in 174 qualified samples. Meanwhile, the effects of environment factors were discussed. The study showed: (l)individual entrepreneurial social competence had significant effects on department performance and company performance; (2)organizational entrepreneurial social competence had significant effects on department performance and company performance; (3 )environment factors had significant interactive effects on relationship between entrepreneurial social competence and performance; (4)organizational factors had significant interactive effects on relationship between entrepreneurial social competence and performance.In study IV, the study explored the mediation effect of entrepreneurial social competence with the use of structural equation model. The results indicated that:(l)three factors of organizati...