How Exactly Do Networking Investments Pay Off? Analyzing the Impact of Nascent Entrepreneurs Networking Investments on Access to Start-Up Resources

It is widely recognized that networks provide access to the resources necessary for founding a business. Up until now, however, the relationship between networking investments and the availability of resources has not been analyzed in depth. Using a sample of 416 nascent entrepreneurs, we address this issue, and provide evidence that networking investments lead to diminishing marginal resource returns in terms of financial, informational, emotional and contact support. Our results also show that resource returns strongly vary with resource type. While emotional support is quite easy to get, many more networking investments are needed to achieve financial support.A considerably revised version of this paper, entitled "How exactly do network relationships pay off? The effects of network size and relationship quality on access to start-up resources", has been accepted for publication in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice