research proposal the effect of social capital on student startups in the north of vietnam

It is extremely important to research and provide elements of resources in businesses human capital, financial capital, especially social capital for successful student startup projects.

-RESEARCH PROPOSAL

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON STUDENT STARTUPS IN THE NORTH OF VIETNAM

Lưu Khánh Linh, Phạm Mai Linh

Student K59 International Business Administration – Faculty of Business Administration

Foreign Trade University, Hanoi, Vietnam

1.1 Context of the study:

The number of students starting a business in Vietnam has increased in recent years In addition, creative startup competitions, which aim to incubate and develop student projects, appear more frequently Some big competitions can be mentioned: Startup with Kawai, Startup Ideas Contest -CiC 2021, Startup Hunt, Techfest Vietnam, Startup Wheel, Bright Challenge Contest Creating Vietnamese Society VSIC, These projects all contain potential opportunities in boosting the national economy It is extremely important to research and provide elements of resources in businesses (human capital, financial capital, especially social capital) for successful student startup projects.

In the field of scientific research, the topic of the influence of social capital on student startups is still limited to many stub studies The first study on social capital appeared in the 1980s (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000) But the topic of social capital and student startups has only been interested since 2010 with the research of Karlsson (2012) However, in these previous studies, the authors did not study the specific effects of social capital and only social capital on young businesses, instead, they placed social capital in relation to human capital or other factors and focus on understanding and analyzing all of them That leads to the lack of thoroughness and completeness of the research on social capital.

Because social capital is such a new topic, researchers are constantly debating and finding more measures of it The familiar items in previous studies to measure social capital are trust, social networks, shared vision, etc However, the researchers realized that there are more and more items such as social reputation, social interaction, etc The measure of social capital in general is still incomplete and in each context, the object will have new items with different levels of influence.

startups of students There are many studies also mentioned, but it is a suggestion only, not specific and clear study.

1.2 Significance of the study:

a Theoretical:

With the above context, this study was conducted to further contribute to the theoretical basis of the influence of social capital on startups, especially university student startups by proving that the items in the previous research have an impact to student startups in Vietnam, and find more typical items in the Vietnamese environment.

b Practical:

From proving items to finding new items, the research will provide students and businesses with important elements of social capital The study also aims to understand how young businesses use social capital to grow their companies This will be of great benefit to students who are intending to start a business and businesses in general They will become more aware of the importance of social capital and find suggestions for creating, improving or utilizing social capital For policymakers and businesses, research is a basis for providing approaches and support for students to start a business.

1.3 Objectives:

This study demonstrates that the factors of social capital in previous studies have influenced entrepreneurial students in the North of Vietnam and learns more about the influence of such items in this region.

The study also looks for new and specific elements of social capital in the entrepreneurial context of students in the North of Vietnam.

capital to form and develop businesses, providing suggestions for current startups.

1.4 Subject:

The research has two main subjects: social capital and university student entrepreneurship in startup period.

1.5 Scope:

a Space: the North of Viet Nam.

b Time: data will be collected from 11/2022 to 01/2023.

2 Literature review:

2.1 Review of previous studies :

a Social capital:

Research on social capital began in the 1980s with three main pioneers: Bourdieu, Coleman, and Putnam (Fine, 2010, pp 36–59) At the beginning, researchers focused on the definition of social capital Bourdieu (1986) divide social capital into two elements: (1) the social relationships that allow individuals to claim access to resources possessed by their associates, and (2) the amount and quality of those resources Coleman (1988) defines social capital by its certain functions: “It is not a single entity but a variety of different entities, with two elements in common: they all consist of some aspect of social structures, and they facilitate actions of actors-whether persons or corporate actors-within the structure.” Putnam (2000) proposes a definition that regarding social capital as similar to a public good, as well as focusing on national civic association and the general well-being of communities.

Subsequent studies continue to define social capital and add how to measure this variable Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) argue that social capital is “the sum of actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships

information, influence, and solidarity while, Stone et al (2002) state that the key measures of social capital consist of (1) norms and (2) various network characteristics (size and extensiveness, density and closure, and diversity) in different network types, such as informal ties, generalized relationships, and institutional relationships Villalonga-Olives et al (2015) found and further proved that the items “social cohesion” appear in social capital and affect businesses Jeong (2020) synthesizes three different models to conceptualize dimensions of social capital The 6-dimension model by Chiu et al (2006) with six different terms: “social interaction, trust, the norm of reciprocity, identification, shared language, and vision” Lin and Lu’s 3-dimensional model measures social capital with these dimensions: structural (social interaction ties), relational (trust), and cognitive (shared vision) (Lin & Lu, 2011) The last model is William’s 2-dimensional model with “bonding” and “bridging”, also known as “strong ties” and “weak ties” (Williams, 2006) Although all three models share the same basis for the classification of social capital into three dimensions - Structural, relational, and cognitive (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), they differ in the number of dimensions measured.

b Social capital of students startup team:

Research on the influence of social capital on student startup teams appeared in 2010 with the study of Karlsson et al (2010) Karlsson studies social capital with legitimacy and human capital and gives results about the importance of social capital that comes from participating in product development, in contract research and in research project with externally employed The authors are still looking for further research directions after Karlsson to make synthesis and comments.

3.1 Related theories:

The Resource-Based View (RBV) emphasizes the role of resources in gaining and maintaining a competitive advantage When businesses identify the right resources and maximize the capacity of those resources, they will create a sustainable competitive advantage, avoiding being imitated by other competitors.

Social exchange theory is social interactions in which individuals believe that from exchange behaviors in society, they will receive certain benefits (Blau, 1964) This theory will be applied to explain how businesses use the "social networks", "social interaction", "social cohesion" elements of social capital.

3.2 Research model:

a Related research model:

The authors found two models of social capital in previous studies that can be learned and researched more.

Schenkel et al (2009):

Figure 1 A social-psychological model of virtual entrepreneurial team performance

Source: Schenkel et al (2009)

Figure 2 Research model on the role of social capital on group performance of Baruch (2012)

Source: Baruch & Lin (2012)

- Proposed research model:

Based on the previous research that has been done on social capital combined with the factors that are thought to be typical of startup students in the North of Vietnam, the team proposes a research model on the role of social capital for the results of student startup projects as follows: Social capital will include 5 main components: Trust; General vision; Social interaction; Social network; Social reputation The team is looking for more items in social capital and how to measure the second variable: student start-up business formation.

Figure 3 Proposed research model.

- Proposed research hypothesis:

H1: Trust has a strong influence in the beginning stage of student startups H2: Shared vision strongly influences student startup formation H3: Social interaction strongly influences student startup formation H4: Social networks have a strong influence on student startup formation H4: Social reputation strongly influences student startup formation.

4 Methodology and data:

4.1 Methodology: The mix of quantity and quality method.

The authors use the quantity method to demonstrate that items are correlated with each other, and use the quality method to account for those relationships, and explain how businesses successfully use social capital.

4.2 Data: create a questionnaire and collect data in the North of Vietnam.

5 Expected results:

The hypotheses given are all true in the Northern region of Vietnam.

Literature review

Decide research questions

Decide relevant theories and models

Decide research models and hypotheses

Research proposal

Create a questionnaire

Collect data

Analysis for hypotheses

Write the first chapter about literature review

Write the third chapter about research models and hypothesis

Write the fourth chapter about results and findings

Write the last chapter about discussion and limitations

Submit the paper

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