臺大管理論叢 NTU Management Review VOL.30 NO.1

Entrepreneurial Networking Actions and Innovativeness of Opportunities: The Moderator Role of Venture Stage 40 identify possible moderators of the relationship between networking actions and the innovativeness of opportunities in an entrepreneurial process. The results show that the stage of a venture is a critical moderating variable that influences the relationship between networking actions and the innovativeness of opportunities. Therefore, the second research question follows by asking: how does venture stage moderate the relationship between networking actions and the innovativeness of opportunities? A survey questionnaire method is used in Study 2 to examine three hypotheses. This study provides the following contributions to related literature. First, previous social networking studies focus on the effects of existing network structures and content on entrepreneurship instead of examining networking actions (Newbert et al., 2013). A study by Vissa (2012), contributes to the literature on the network agentic perspective by providing evidence that networking actions (network broadening and network deepening) influence the innovativeness of opportunities. Second, the contingencies which govern when certain networking actions are the most beneficial to the innovativeness of opportunities are ambiguous. Study 1 observes that the personal networking action requirements of entrepreneurs may change over time (Slotte-Kock and Coviello, 2010). Therefore, how the optimal networking actions differ in early and late stages need to be considered. Using the two-stage research method to verify the results, the study determines that the venture stage plays an essential moderating role. This study contributes to network theory and entrepreneurship by introducing the effect of the venture stage. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are described according to the results. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Innovativeness of Opportunities An opportunity is the potential to create new products or services, which may involve new markets or technology (Baron, 2006). Baumol (1993) states that innovation is not always necessary to start a business, but businesses that focus on productivity and economic growth require an innovating entrepreneur. This emphasizes the value of innovation-based entrepreneurship. More specifically, through innovation, entrepreneurs can improve their efficiency and effectiveness in existing markets, or create new business models in these markets (Gaglio, 2004). Therefore, the study agrees that “Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service” (Drucker, 1985).