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Entrepreneurialenvironmentandresearchperformanceinknowledge-basedinstitutionsMohammadM.Salaran&AlexMaritzPublishedonline:1April2009#SpringerScience+BusinessMedia,LLC2009AbstractTheconstructsofsocialcapital,entrepreneurialorientation,andperformancehavebeenwidelyresearchedoverthelastdecade.Thereis,however,limitedevidenceoftheinterrelationbetweentheseconstructsinaknowledge-basedenvironment.ThisresearchinvestigatedsuchrelationshipsinacademicinstitutionsinMetropolitanMelbourne.Asamotivetoimproveperformanceofacademicstaffwithinuniversities,weexaminedtheroleofsocialcapitalinfosteringentrepreneurialactivities.Aquantitativesurveymethodologyisimplementedviaelectronicmedia,facilitatedbyempiricalanalysisusingcorrelationandmultipleregression.Whileitcanbeconcludedthattheconstructsareallmultidimensional,varyingrelationshipswereidentifiedwhenstatisticallyexaminingtheinterrelations.Overall,thereisasignificantrelationshipbetweenthedimensionsofsocialcapitalandperformance,albeitvaryingbetweenstructural,relational,andcognitivedimensions.Entrepreneurialorientationalsoportrayssuchsignificance,albeitvaryingbetweendimensionsofautonomy,innovativeness,risktaking,proactiveness,andcompetitiveaggressiveness.Limitationsandfurtherresearcharecitedtoenhancetheunderstandingoftheinterrelationoftheconstructs.KeywordsSocialcapital.Entrepreneurialorientation.Structuraldimension.Researchactivity.ResearchperformanceJIntEntrep(2009)7:261–280DOI10.1007/s10843-009-0040-3TheauthorswishtothankJIEN’sreviewersandHamidEtemad,theeditor,fortheirhelpfulsuggestionsonthisarticle.M.M.Salaran(*):A.MaritzAustralianGraduateSchoolofEntrepreneurship,SwinburneUniversityofTechnology,Melbourne,Victoria,Australiae-mail:msalaran@swin.edu.auA.Maritze-mail:amaritz@swin.edu.auIntroductionWebelievethisstudyrepresentsthefirstempiricalexaminationintegratingsocialcapital,entrepreneurialorientation,andperformanceinknowledge-basedinstitu-tions.Thepurposeistoexaminetheroleofsocialcapitalinfosteringentrepreneurialactivitiesinuniversitiesandtherebyimprovingtheperformanceofindividualsandtheorganization.Wedosobyexaminingtheinterrelationbetweendimensionswithinthethreeidentifiedconstructs.Theconceptofsocialcapitalhasbeeninvestigatedincreasinglyinrecentyearsasausefulresourceintheformofcooperativebehaviorandtrustthatisengenderedbythefabricofsocialrelationships.Ithasbeenappliedtosolvemanyproblemsinsocietiessinceitsappearanceintheliterature,withapplicationssuchaseducation,publichealth,economicdevelopment,communitylife,youthbehaviorproblems,andgeneralproblemsofcollectiveactions(Fukuyama1995b;Coleman1988;Loury1987;PortesandSensenbrenner1993;Woolcock1998;Putnum1993,1995;Zahraetal.2006).Startinginsociology,socialcapitalgainedsignificanceindifferentdisciplines,includingorganizationalstudies,entrepreneurship,psychology,econom-ics,marketing,andpolitics.Thebasicideathatattractedtheattentionofscholarsisthatsocialcapitalmayfacilitatethecreationofvalue.Confrontedwithmanyquestionsintheirfieldofstudy,organizationalresearchersappliedthisconceptindifferentareas.Therangeoforganizationalissueswhichhavebeenansweredbysocialcapitalhasbeenbroadandvarious,includingcareersuccess(GabbyandZuckerman1998;Burt1992),executivecompensation(Belliveauetal.1996),findingjobs(Granovetter1995;LinandDumin1996),producingapoolofrecruitsforfirms(Fernandezetal.2000),productinnovation(TsaiandGhoshal1998),thecreationofintellectualcapital(NahapietandGhoshal1998),improvingcustomerserviceorientation(OmarandSimon2006),intrafirmsnetworksandformingalliances(Tsai2003),entrepreneur-ship(ChungandGibbons1997),theformationofstartupcompanies(Walkeretal.1997),effectivenessofentrepreneurialteams(Weisz2004),andstrengtheningsupplierrelations(Uzzi1997).Inthisstudy,weexaminedtheroleofsocialcapitalinfosteringentrepreneurialorientationinanacademiccontext;morespecifically,howsocialcapitalavailabletoacademicsfostersentrepreneurialorientationandthereforeimprovestheirperformance.Inanefforttoexplainthesocialcapitalconcept,NahapietandGhoshal(1997)identifiedthreedimensionsofsocialcapitalasbeingstructural,relational,andcognitive.Theytheoreticallyjustifiedhowthesedimensionscreatevaluewithinorganizations.Appropriatetothisstudy,weelaborateonthesedimensionsanddiscuseshowtheyencourageentrepreneurialorientationofacademicstaffandtheirperformance.WeformulatedhypothesesaroundthedimensionsofsocialcapitalandsubjectedthehypothesestoempiricaltestingbasedonasurveyconductedinfiveAustralianuniversitieslocatedinMetropolitanMelbourne.Entrepreneurshipinestablishedorganizationshasrecentlybeenwidelytoutedintheliteratureasameansofrevitalizingandimprovingtheperformance(Zahraetal.1999;Kuratko2005).Sinceitsappearanceintheliterature,scholarshavebeguntofocusontheprocesses,behaviors,models,andantecedentsofentrepreneurialactivitiesinorganizationalcontexts(Zahraetal.1999;KuratkoandWelsch2004;262M.M.Salaran,A.MaritzCovinandSlevin1991).Theextantliteraturehasexaminedseveralantecedentsforentrepreneurialactivitiesinorganizationssuchasorganizationalculture,structure,strategy,andseniormanagement.H