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 48 enterprises using capital worth less than USD 35,000 and USD 350,000, respectively. Of the ventures, 42% are early-stage ventures (registered fewer than 5 years ago) and 58% are late-stage ventures (registered more than 5 years ago). 3.2.2 Measures Independent variables: Networking actions This study uses the measures for networking actions described by Vissa (2012). Network broadening is measured using three items relevant to accessing new networks (α = 0.888). The items are, “When I attend industry forums and other business-related networking events, I build connections with people I did not know before,” “When I attend social events, I build connections with people I did not know before,” and “When meeting a new person, I find out how he or she will benefit from our (potential) relationship.” Responses to the questions range from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 7 ( completely agree ). Three items on relational embedding (the extent to which an entrepreneur seeks to combine social and business relations with existing contacts) are used to measure network deepening (α = 0.851). The items are, “I take actions to build personal friendships with my business contacts”, “I socialize with my business contacts”, and “I convert work relationships to personal relationships in stages.” Dependent variable: Innovativeness of opportunities The innovativeness of opportunities is measured by using items adapted from Baron (2006), Holmén et al. (2007), and Koellinger (2008). The innovativeness of opportunities is defined as the possibility of realizing the potential economic value inherent in a new combination of resources and market demands that emerges from changes in the scientific or technological knowledge base, customer preferences, or relationships between economic actors. Four items are used to measure the innovativeness of opportunities: technology or service, provision of a new product or service, the level of industry change represented by the product or service, and solving customer problems (α = 0.876). Responses range from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 7 ( strongly agree ). Moderator: Venture stage This study separates the venture life cycle into two stages: the early stage and the late stage (Koberg et al., 1996; Sullivan and Ford, 2014; Stam et al., 2014). The year that a company is registered with the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan determines the venture stage. Businesses are classified as early-stage ventures if they were registered