Is more always more competitive? Exploring the U-shaped relationship between social capital of failed entrepreneurs and re-entrepreneurship quality: Global empirical investigation
Is more always more competitive? Exploring the U-shaped relationship between social capital of failed entrepreneurs and re-entrepreneurship quality: Global empirical investigation

Summary/Abstract: Research background: The social capital of failed entrepreneurs affects resource integration during re-entrepreneurship and determines the quality and competitiveness of subsequent entrepreneurial activities. However, existing studies have not yet clarified the possible paths of influence and boundary conditions linking the social capital of failed entrepreneurs and re-entrepreneurship quality. Purpose of the article: This study investigates whether the increased social capital possessed by failed entrepreneurs can enhance re-entrepreneurship quality and competitiveness, as well as the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the above relationship, and further explores how business dynamics moderates these effects. Methods: Drawing on social capital theory and the resource-based view, this study utilizes a large-scale cross-national sample of 6,805 failed entrepreneurs from 79 countries in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database from 2010 to 2020. A multiple regression model was employed to examine the U-shaped relationship between social capital and re-entrepreneurship quality, while mediation and moderation analyses were applied to test the roles of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and business dynamism. Findings & value added: Results demonstrate significant U-shaped relationships between social capital and both re-entrepreneurship quality and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Specifically, social capital exerts a negative effect before reaching a critical threshold, beyond which its influence becomes positive. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy partially mediates this U-shaped relationship, while business dynamism strengthens the positive U-shaped effect of social capital on re-entrepreneurship quality and renders the U-shaped curve steeper. The primary value added of this study lies in revealing these nonlinear mechanisms and context-dependent conditions, thereby providing deeper theoretical insights into how failed entrepreneurs can effectively leverage social capital to enhance re-entrepreneurship quality and competitiveness.

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