Entrepreneurship as Networking? Theoretical Insights from the Historical Literature

The literature on entrepreneurship largely considers the role of networks in historical perspective in terms of social capital, institutional framework and multiple cultural embeddedness, but usually avoids the most radical issues concerning the same definition of the entrepreneur as a network-embedded agent of change. This, in turn, is the subject of a research thread on brokers as actors of innovation. However, interpreting entrepreneurship as networking raises a series of questions concerning its strategic or emergent nature and its intended or unintended effects. Such questions concern the complex nature of network systems and as such they can derive valuable insights from a retrospective historical approach as practised in the humanities. In fact, a large variety of historical studies concerning different geographical and chronological contexts deals with multiple institutional logics and the ability of embedded actors to exploit connections and contradictions among them to open the way to new solutions. An exploratory review of the historical literature dealing with networks and entrepreneurship is used here to highlight its potential theoretical contributions, despite the fragmentation of the debate on the issue. The discussion highlights the emerging importance of temporality issues in the study of the different network functions of brokers.