Building entrepreneurial inter-firm networks in an emerging economy: the role of cognitive legitimacy

We take an organizational legitimacy perspective and use data from a large-scale nationally representative study on the state of small business in Saudi Arabia, in order to explore the antecedents to the formation of entrepreneurial ventures’ inter-firm networks in the context of an emerging economy (n = 331). We argue that entrepreneurial ventures need to overcome a threshold of cognitive legitimacy in order to develop inter-firm ties with a diverse set of large, established firms. Results indicate that having a written business plan and a formal organizational structure are positively associated with the diversity of the new venture’s inter-firm network, while the education level of the entrepreneur does not have a significant effect. In addition, the effect of having a formal organizational structure is stronger for younger ventures. Implications are discussed.