Social entrepreneur management of personal network linkages: Does the use of social media increase resources?

Abstract

Research on social entrepreneurship highlights how important resources are since a lack of them may undermine a social organization's activity and mission. To maintain or increase the amount of resources available, the social entrepreneur needs to manage his/her personal network linkages via social media to connect with current stakeholders and seek new ones. This research uses primary data collected from a survey of social organizations to see whether the social entrepreneur’s network reliance on social media increases the amount of resources available for the social organization. The primary data was collected between January and March 2020. The results obtained from 313 social organizations in Portugal show that the social entrepreneur’s network linkages have a direct and an indirect effect. Directly, managing the social entrepreneur’s linkages with stakeholders seems to attract resources for the social organization. The indirect effects occur via social media usage, firstly, by seeking and establishing relationships with new stakeholders, and secondly, by managing the personal linkages with the current network of stakeholders.