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Political connections are widely acknowledged as an effective political strategy for achieving firm value. However, surprisingly little is known about the association between political connections and individual-level outcomes (e.g. subjective well-being) and the underlying mechanism for this link.

Drawing on the schematic model of social capital and entrepreneurship and utilizing a sample of rural Chinese entrepreneurs, the authors developed and tested a multilevel model delineating the impact of political connections on entrepreneur well-being (job and life satisfaction) via the mediating roles of bribing behavior and institutional trust at individual and provincial levels.

Multilevel analyses revealed that at the individual level, political connections were positively associated with job and life satisfaction; bribing behavior and institutional trust served as partial mediators of these associations. These effects were deviated when examining them at the provincial level.

The theoretical implications concerning the political connections and subjective well-being effects as well as comparative entrepreneurship were discussed.

Further, the authors provide guidance for both entrepreneurs and policymakers.

The study linked political connections to entrepreneurs' subjective well-being which is increasingly seen as an important ingredient of personal success via distinguishing the individual-level effects from the provincial-level effects. Thus, the study further contributes to the contextualized understanding of the entrepreneurship literature.

This study aims to examine, by drawing upon resource dependence theory and upper echelon theory, how entrepreneurs’ socioeconomic statuses and political characteristics influence the establishment of formal political ties by new ventures, and how these relationships are moderated by new ventures’ degrees of innovation and internationalization.

An empirical research approach is used in this paper. This is because this model evaluates the interaction effects between the socioeconomic statuses and political characteristics of entrepreneurs and the market strategies of their new ventures. Moderated multiple regression models were used to test our hypotheses with data from 2,297 new ventures in China.

Using a questionnaire survey about new ventures in China, it was found that entrepreneurs’ socioeconomic statuses and political characteristics are positively related to the establishment of formal political ties by new ventures. It was also found that this positive relationship is stronger when new ventures have a higher degree of internationalization, while the relationship between the socioeconomic statuses of entrepreneurs’ and the establishment of formal political ties by new ventures is weaker when new ventures have a higher degree of innovation.

This research provides a deeper insight into the personal roles that are played in the establishment of formal political ties and it advances the research into new ventures’ competitive strategies.

This study reveals the situations in which formal political ties are connected with new-venture advantages in China, and it will help entrepreneurs establish and use formal political ties strategically to correspond with the different strategies of new ventures.

This research distinguishes the effects of two types of personal status on the establishment of formal political ties by new ventures, and it contributes to an understanding of the situations under which entrepreneurs should establish formal political ties. The findings will also be helpful for entrepreneurs who are choosing how to combine their market and non-market strategies.

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the author sought to more fully understand the role of socio-political activity on opportunity recognition among experienced entrepreneurs. Second, the author sought to better understand how socio-political activism, experience, entrepreneurial passion and social entrepreneurial intention are antecedents. Given the importance of entrepreneurship in the developing nations, there must be an understanding of how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities.

This study analyzes how socio-political activism acts as a foundation on which entrepreneurs can recognize opportunity through entrepreneurial passion, experience and intention. The author utilized a survey constructed of a unique combination of existing and well-researched instruments. Entrepreneurs living in Latin America were surveyed through the web-based survey company Prolific(R). Based on an a priori power calculation, the survey was fielded to 305 respondents with a 100% response rate.

The model suggests that socio-political activism increases experience, entrepreneurial passion and social entrepreneurial intention among entrepreneurs in Latin America. Further, the model indicates that entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial experience have partial mediation effects on social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, while social entrepreneurial intention has full mediation effects on social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition.

The findings of this model suggest that socio-political activism in the developing context provides a model that shows how political activism plays a crucial role in numerous entrepreneurial aspects. Being active politically, gives entrepreneurs greater passion, experience and intention which in turn leads to greater opportunity recognition and mediates the relationship between socio-political activism and opportunity recognition.

The model presented in this research is original and helps shape the paradigm within social entrepreneurship in the developing context. The model also provides additional antecedents of opportunity recognition which may assist with shaping future research in the developing context and how the role of political activism assists the field's understanding of how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities.

Based on social influence theory (SIT) and social capital theory, this paper aims to explore the mediating role of entrepreneurial networks between technological entrepreneurs' political skills and entrepreneurial performance and whether market dynamics positively moderates this relationship.

This study collected data from 454 technological entrepreneurs in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou in China and examined four hypotheses by hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping analysis in an empirical design.

Results reveal that technological entrepreneurs' political skills not only have a direct positive impact on entrepreneurial performance (β = 0.544, t = 12.632, p < 0.001), but also have an indirect positive impact on entrepreneurial performance through entrepreneurial networks (β = 0.473, t = 10.636, p < 0.001). Entrepreneurial networks play a mediating role between entrepreneurs' political skills and entrepreneurial performance with 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals [0.034, 0.015]. Market dynamics plays a moderating role in the relationship among technological entrepreneurs' political skills, entrepreneurial networks and entrepreneurial performance (entrepreneurial performance: β = 0.190, t = 4.275, p < 0.001; entrepreneurial networks: β = 0.135, t = 4.455, p < 0.001). When market dynamics is high, technological entrepreneurs' political skills have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial networks (simple slope = 0.309, t = 7.656, p < 0.001); but when market dynamics is low, there is no significant correlation between political skills and entrepreneurial networks (simple slope = 0.039, t = 0.966, p > 0.05).

The study relies on self-reported data from single informants. Although the severity of common method bias is tested through two methods, future research designs should avoid the influence of common method bias. Future research should adopt a vertical tracking design, collect data from multiple sources and use subjective assessment and objective indicators to measure variables. In addition, the applicability of the results outside China is worth further empirical exploration. Therefore, the authors hope that future studies can replicate the research to different countries, different cultural backgrounds and different organizational sections to explore the generalizability of the results.

The findings provide useful suggestions for entrepreneurs, who can use political skills to build a strong entrepreneurial network to improve their entrepreneurial performance. The results also suggest that entrepreneurs should pay more attention to cultivating and developing their political skills through methods such as training and practice. In addition, the conclusion is of great implications to enrich the content of entrepreneurship education and guide entrepreneurship practice.

These findings enrich SIT and social capital theory by providing the empirical evidence of the effect of entrepreneurs' political skills on entrepreneurial performance through entrepreneurial network. They also provide deeper insights into market dynamics research by uncovering the moderating role of market dynamics in the relationship between entrepreneurs' political skills, entrepreneurial networks and entrepreneurial performance.

This study aims to explore the political dimension of social network theory and assess how these connections motivate entrepreneurial activity and enhance postentry stages. The authors take an individualistic approach to the topic of institutional deterioration by uncovering the potential opportunities it can create, as entrepreneurship often arises when a market opportunity is perceived.

This study used a quantitative approach, using a self-selection sampling method to target private entities that own electric generators (also known as “illicit SMEs”) who are providing electricity services to the community despite the deterioration of the public energy sector in Lebanon. Data was collected through a survey administered electronically to 230 illicit SMEs, using a judgmental sampling method to ensure representation from all Lebanese governorates. The collected data was analyzed using ordinal least squares regression models.

The findings indicate a significant relationship between institutional deterioration and the reinvestment rate of entrepreneurs, with the moderating effect of political connections suggesting that the impact of institutional deterioration is dependent on the strength of an entrepreneur’s political connections.

The research findings demonstrate the significant influence of social ties and political connections on entrepreneurial activities, particularly in the context of SMEs that are providing services “illegally”. These results shed light on the importance of considering the role of social and political factors in the success and sustainability of entrepreneurial ventures operating in challenging environments.

Entrepreneurial studies typically focus on free market platforms and supply-demand associations, assuming perfect government conditions. However, this study differs from previous research by highlighting the positive impact of social ties on entrepreneurial market access within a socially linked environment. The findings suggest the importance of considering social connections in entrepreneurial studies, particularly in challenging economic and political contexts.

This paper aims to explore the influence of entrepreneur’s political involvement on private-own enterprises’ (POEs’) selection of two inter-organizational conflict resolutions approaches (private approach and public approach), in the context of China’s transition economy.

Drawing on a sample of POEs operating in China’s transition economy in the year 2000, this study investigates the possible association between the entrepreneur’s political involvement and the approach chosen to resolve inter-organizational conflicts. A further step is taken to look into the implications of such a choice.

The empirical study reveals that those POEs with greater entrepreneurial political involvement have the propensity to rely on public approach. In general, POEs are more satisfied with the private approach than the public approach when managing conflicts. Besides, the study shows that the positive effects derived from the entrepreneur’s satisfaction on private approach will be weakened in more established institutions.

This paper has its unique contribution in highlighting the significance of how entrepreneurs’ political involvement interferes with inter-organizational conflict resolution.

This study mainly aims to examine whether entrepreneurs’ utilization of political connections is purely egoistic. Addressing this issue could shed light on traditional debate which concerns whether political connections still have strategic value at advanced stage of institutional transition today in China. Here, at the background of Chinese economic transformation, the utilization of political connections is studied, and a double-role model of the pro-self-mechanism and the pro-social mechanism between political connections and performance in China is put forward.

This study uses survey of questionnaires randomly from 363 entrepreneurs in Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong Provinces of China and adopts the first stage and direct moderation model in examination.

The results show that there exists mediated mechanism of both pro-self and pro-social mechanism in the relationship between political connections and firm performance. The authors conclude that utilization of political connections is not only purely egoistic but also altruistic. So, both dark-side and bright-side mechanisms of political connections in China are of equal importance. In addition, the authors take into consideration of the contingency effects of institution, industry and firm-level factors of this moderation model. The pro-self and pro-social mechanisms have differences in terms of moderator-within and moderator-between comparisons of these three contingency effects. Among these comparisons, the pro-self-mediating mechanism is most sensitive to changes of institutional quality, whereas the pro-social mediating mechanism is most sensitive to the uncertainty of industry competition.

This evidence furthermore verifies that the process of institutional transition is nonlinear and political connections still have strategic value in advanced stage of institutional transition today.

This study combines the dual perspectives of “give” and “take.” The former implies the pro-social motivation, while the latter implies the pro-self-motivation. Based on the framework of “resource-conduct-performance,” this study explores how these two mechanisms mediate the relationship between political ties and firm performance. In addition, the authors adopt the framework of “Strategy Tripod,” which was proposed by Peng et al. (2009) and examine the difference between pro-self and pro-social motivation at different level of institution environment improvement, industry dynamics and firm absorptive capacity.

How do entrepreneurs in the public sector effect major policy changes? Are the same entrepreneurs likely to be involved from the idea initiation stage through design, adoption, implementation and institutionalnation, or are there different prominent entrepreneurs in each of the policy stages? What does the pattern of entrepreneurial participation mean for the success of the policy? Utilizing a case study of Performance-Based Program Budgeting (PB2 ) in the State of Florida, this paper employs the observations of key Florida policymakers and advocates to describe the strategic and purposive actions of public entrepreneurs in the four stages of the PB2 budget reform policy process. The work supports current research that major policy changes, such as the adoption of PB2 in Florida, require purposive and strategic actions from public entrepreneurs for their fruition. The paper also contributes to the growing implementation and budgeting literature that describes and assesses performance-based budgeting in the states, and provides observations on necessary conditions for institutionalizing PB2 in Florida.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory of sovereign entrepreneurship, which is a special kind of political entrepreneurship.

This paper uses qualitative methods/historical survey.

Sovereignty is rooted in self-enforced exchange of political property rights. Sovereign entrepreneurship is the creative employment of political property rights to advance a plan.

Because a polity’s constitution is determined by its distribution of political property rights, sovereign entrepreneurship and constitutional change are necessarily linked. The author illustrated how sovereign entrepreneurship can be applied by using it to explain the rise of modern states.

In addition to studying instances of sovereign entrepreneurship in distant history, scholars can apply it to recent history. Sovereign entrepreneurship can be especially helpful as a tool for doing analytic narratives of low-n cases of political-economic development, especially when those polities attract interests for being “development miracles.”

This paper uses treats sovereignty as a political property right.

This paper aims to set social network, which is recently drawing the most attention in the business administration field, as a major dependent variable of political skill. It is because social network plays a very important role in improving the productivity and performance of firms, and, in actuality, many researches have proved that social network greatly contributes to firm performance.

Researches into social network have not yet established that “through what” or “how” social network can be formed and affected.

In this study, the authors attempt to connect social network with political skill, which is a cause variable.

This approach will give us a better understanding on the formation of social networks and its relationship with political skill, and so eventually, such negative recognition about the politics can be viewed from a different sight of angle.