In this study like most similar studies, I used purposive sampling because it allowed me to carefully select my respondents and get richer information that is valuable to this research (Suen, Huang, & Lee, 2014). The rich in depth information that I collected was meant to grab an exclusive understanding of entrepreneurial intentions though means of human capital and social capital. The data and information that I collected by means of semi-structured interviews were all done in English in the city of Taipei. I sought out and found 3 interviewees for my qualitative research. The requirements for my interviewees were as followed:
1. Must be a foreigner currently living in Taiwan
2. Must have ran a business or are currently running a business now in Taiwan 3. Must be able to thoroughly reply and answer interview questions. I sought
respondents who had the willingness to share their feelings and personal
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experiences or the ability to articulate their ideas to ensure the quality and of the data.
Country of Origin: Canada New Zealand Philippines
Number of years living in Taiwan:
4 2 5
Educational Background:
University University Post graduate
Company profile: Creator and CEO of a consulting
Adam has been living in Taiwan for more than 8 years. He has been doing entrepreneurial work for as long as he can remember. He is highly qualified as a respondent because of his passion and background within the entrepreneurship field.
Throughout our interview, Adam expressed his idea about entrepreneurship, and how
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entrepreneurship should be better understood and redefined. He believes that “the way we understand entrepreneurship today is all wrong. We define entrepreneurship as just someone who does business, like a business man or woman. Business men and women know about business, and how to make a business’s work. Entrepreneurs do not. A business man can be an entrepreneur, but an entrepreneur cannot always be a business man.” His idea may be something that could be considered in future research.
Have we been using human capital and social capital to define business men and women instead of defining Entrepreneurship? His ideas inspired his strong
opinionated response to all of my questions. When I asked him about training courses and development activities, his opinions resonated through his response that training course and development activities are vital because entrepreneurs are not businessmen.
Better understanding how we define entrepreneurship will help us in future studies.
Bob has been living in Taiwan for almost 2 years. He has been an entrepreneur for 8 years. Bob was perfect for our interview because he stresses the importance of creativity. Bob recognizes the importance of human capital and social capital and how it could be used as tools to get what he wants. Bob emphasized the importance of social capital, and having a good network. In the aspects of human capital, he emphasized the importance of communication skills. As a foreigner entrepreneur, communication skills may be the greatest tool for an entrepreneur. Using those tools in your social network to create real income is what entrepreneurs seek to accomplish.
This is what Bob emphasized though his rhetoric.
Carl has been an entrepreneur in Taiwan for 3 years. He enjoys working with other entrepreneurs and loves to set up new businesses. I felt that he was perfect for this interview because of his knowledge of how to start-up a company, and how he
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works closely with other entrepreneurs. Being involved in the entrepreneurial community helps individuals better understand the environment that they live in and how it affects entrepreneurs. Carl emphasized the importance of who to talk to, and where to get your information from. Because Carl has dealt with many entrepreneurs in Taiwan, I also felt that he may have a better idea about where most entrepreneurs start and what has influenced them to become entrepreneurs.
I interviewed all of the respondents that were invited to my study. I gave all of my interviewees my interview questions ahead of time so that they could properly prepare. I interviewed each interviewee separately. Each interview that was conducted lasted between 30 to 60 minutes. The interviews were all conducted in Taipei. The purpose of these interviews was for my second study and to get a better understanding of how human capital and social capital influences entrepreneur intentions. All
recordings are kept confidential by request of the participants.
For each question, I gave the interviewee time to clearly think and respond to their questions appropriately. For questions that seemed unclear to the interviewees, the interviewer responded appropriately. If there were responses that were deemed to be unclear, I would then ask the interviewee to elaborate on their responses.
Interview protocol
After reviewing the results from the first study, I went back to re-examine the questionnaire that I gave to the respondents. I speculate that my first study failed due to the structure of each question and the vagueness of how human capital and social capital was presented. Furthermore, I could have been more
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efficient with presenting a concrete definition of both human capital and social capital. I understand that my questionnaire could have been more efficient. I went back to my independent variables to better understand how I could use them in my second study.
Human capital: “skill, knowledge, and similar attributes that affect particular human capabilities to do productive work" (Schultz, 1961:8)
Social capital: “social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Putnam, 1993,1995).
I re-examined the definitions of human capital and social capital in the entrepreneurial context to see how I could keep the original meaning and idea to implement it into my second study.
In the second study I thought about how I could better understand how to use human capital attributes in a way that is less vague and more understanding to the respondents. The way that social capital and human capital were measured in my previous study lacks of rich contexts that would give readers clear answers.
I thought it was critical to bring the context back into my study. I wanted to integrate this idea into my second study to better understand how human capital could be understood in the entrepreneurial context. As a result I determined that this study was going to use human capital in the context of time and space; the evolution of an entrepreneur in their earlier life and foreign experience. I sought to connect the idea of how their human capital has influenced them to become entrepreneurs in Taiwan.
Along with human capital, I decided that I was going to make similar changes in the way I thought about social capital. I wanted to dig deeper into the
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respondent’s social connections in their earlier life, their thoughts and ideas about social trust and norms here in Taiwan, and how it has influenced their
experiences as an entrepreneur here in Taiwan.
In order to create a questionnaire that articulates the definitions of both human capital and social capital I created 6 categories with each category having 3 or more questions. I wanted to see the evolution of how someone decides to become an entrepreneur in Taiwan. I am focusing on the Time and space aspect in this part of the study which may be the biggest contribution to this field of work.
Figure 1 illustrates the time and space of the entrepreneurial experiences through the context of human capital and social capital.
Figure 1:
Human Capital and Social Capitalin Time and Space
•Early childhood
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Table 4 represents each category and the reasoning behind each category with the use of time and space. The categories and questions are presented below in Table 5.
Table 4:
Reasoning for Time and Space Categories
Time and space Reasoning
Human capital and early life education
This category may give us detailed answers to the biggest influences in an entrepreneur’s life
regarding their educational background.
Human capital and learning from your foreign experience.
This category may give us an understanding of the processes foreign individuals may go through and the knowledge they obtain through their foreign experience.
Human capital and your direct business experiences in Taiwan.
This category may give us a better illustration of the skills and tools that are crucial for foreign
entrepreneurs.
Social capital and early life influences
This category may give us detailed answers to who or what kinds of people were the biggest influences in an entrepreneur’s life and what their social
background and character was like before coming to Taiwan.
Social capital and foreign experience in Taiwan
This category may give us detailed answers to what kinds of social networks, norms, or what kinds of people may influence or discourage a foreign entrepreneur in Taiwan.
Social capital and how it issued in a foreign business setting
This category may give us detailed answers about what real experiences are like as a foreign
entrepreneur, and the difficulties that it may present.
27 Table 5:
Questions for Time and Space Categories
Time and space Questions
Human capital and early life education
1. Tell me about who you are, where you are from, and your educational background?
2. What part of your high school, college experience, or educational background aided you the most in
becoming an entrepreneur in Taiwan?
3. How did you feel about your work experiences before becoming an entrepreneur in Taiwan?
Human capital and learning from your foreign experience.
1. What did you learn while living abroad?
2. Do you feel that Taiwan offers an opportunity for you to develop your entrepreneur skills? Why?
3. How important is it to you that in Taiwan it is easy to find training courses or development activities either through public or private organizations?
Human capital and your direct business experiences in Taiwan.
1. Doing business while in Taiwan, to what degree has your creativity been hindered or broadened? How?
2. Are you a better problem solver after doing business in Taiwan? Please explain
3. What skills do you think are the most important for entrepreneurs in Taiwan? Why?
Social capital and early life influences
1. How has your family and friends changed you into the person you are today?
2. Who from your background influenced you the most in becoming an entrepreneur in Taiwan? How?
3. How did you see yourself socially before you were an entrepreneur in Taiwan?
Social capital and foreign experience in Taiwan
1. Did you feel that being a foreigner was an advantage or disadvantage when finding help for your business?
Why?
2. Did you feel that it was easy to meet other entrepreneurs in Taiwan?
3. Has the social environment or culture in Taiwan ever influenced you to stop being an entrepreneur? Why?
28 Social capital and
how it is used in your business setting
1. How difficult is it for you to employee the “right people” to help you with your business? Why do you think?
2. Do you have trouble finding out who to talk to or where to find information when doing business?
3. Do you feel that people here in Taiwan are trustworthy and are easy to recruit as potential business partners?