SOCIAL NETWORKS OF LATINO AND LATINA ENTREPRENEURS AND THEIR IMPACT ON VENTURE PERFORMANCE

Latino owned businesses experienced explosive growth and are expected to be a major player in the entrepreneurial landscape. While taking the lead in start-ups, ethnic and female entrepreneurs experience lower business performance. Thus, we explore the social networks of Latino business owners and the implications for venture growth (employee size) and sustainability (years in business). The data come from 176 business owners (56% Latino) participating in training in Chicago. We compared networking behaviors, size and frequency of contact with others for: a) Latino and non-Latino entrepreneurs and b) Latino male and Latina entrepreneurs. Latino entrepreneurs had fewer contacts and met with them less often than nonLatino owners but, focused on weak ties (other business owners, business associations) more than strong ties (family, friends). Latina entrepreneurs, compared to Latino males, had fewer contacts and relied on strong ties more but weak ties less for business-related information. Finally, results showed a positive relation between frequency of contact and growth for Latino firms. Implications and future research involve increasing training to build networking skills among Latino entrepreneurs and further exploration of network properties for building firm sustainability. The findings show empirical and theoretical support for hypotheses with contributions to ethnic and female entrepreneurship.