This paper examines the critical role of gender in the commercialization of social ventures. We argue that cultural beliefs about what is perceived to be appropriate work for each gender influence how founders of social ventures incorporate commercial activity into their ventures. Specifically, we argue and show that although cultural beliefs that disassociate women from commercial activity may result in female social venture founders being less likely to use commercial activity than their male counterparts, these effects are moderated by cultural beliefs about gender and commercial activity within founders' local communities. The presence of female business owners in the same community mitigates the role of founders' gender on the use of commercial activity. We examine these issues through a novel sample of 584 social ventures in the United States. We constructively replicate and extend these findings with a supplemental analysis of a second sample, the full population of new nonprofit organizations founded during a two-year period in the United States (n 31,160). By highlighting how gendered aspects of both the social and commercial sectors interact to shape the use of commercial activity by social venture founders, our findings contribute to research on hybrid organizations in the social sector, communities as a context for the enactment of gender, and the enactment of gender in entrepreneurship.

Research Summary This study explores how entrepreneurs' social capital affects their resilience to localized shocks. Using a unique longitudinal survey of entrepreneurs during a surge of violent protests in Togo during 2017 and 2018, I explore how different kinds of relationships affect entrepreneurs' performance. Results show that proximity to violent protests caused entrepreneurs' profits to drop by 20%. This decrease, however, was mitigated by entrepreneurs' ties to their local communities and by their non‐colocated advice relationships, which were ties to geographically distant advisers. In contrast, colocated advisers, those who were spatially proximate, were harmful to their performance. These findings show that social capital can have conflicting effects on entrepreneurs' resilience, depending on the kinds of relationships they consist of and how those relationships are exposed to the shock. Managerial Summary Relationships are critical to entrepreneurs' performance. Yet, during local crises, such as violent protests, it can be difficult to know which relationships to rely on. Studying entrepreneurs in Togo during a sudden surge of violent protests, I found that two kinds of relationships reduced the negative impact of the localized shock: ties to local communities and advisers located outside the crisis area. In contrast, advisers located nearby, who were also affected by the crisis, amplified the protests' negative effects. These findings suggest that entrepreneurs who can afford to build stronger ties to their local communities and have more distant advisers may be better positioned to minimize losses during localized shocks.

Recent field experiments demonstrate that advice, mentorship, and feedback from randomly assigned peers improve entrepreneurial performance. These results raise a natural question: what is preventing entrepreneurs and managers from forming these peer connections themselves? We argue that entrepreneurs may be under-networked because they lack the necessary social skills—the ability to communicate effectively and interact collaboratively with new acquaintances—that allow them to match efficiently with knowledgeable peers. We use a field experiment in the context of a business training program in Togo to test if a short social skills training module increases the number and complementarity of peers that participants choose to learn from. We find that social skills training led entrepreneurs to match with 50% more peers and that more of those matches were based on complementary managerial skill. Finally, the training also increased entrepreneurs’ monthly profits by approximately 20%. Further analyses point to improvements in networking and advice as the drivers of performance improvements. Our findings suggest that social skills help entrepreneurs build relationships that create value for both themselves and their peers. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy.

This article provides an introduction to multimarket competition and the research stream that examines it. Multimarket competition occurs when firms meet their competitors in multiple markets and compete with them by coordinating their strategies across those markets. In this article, we present a concise exposition of the theoretical foundations of the literature on multimarket competition and illustrate how empirical research projects are typically designed in this literature. We also provide some directions for future work in this area and discuss implications for research in organization design.

Why do some entrepreneurs benefit from their portfolio of peer advisers while others do not? In this study, we argue that communication practices are an important but overlooked factor in the formation of useful advice relationships between entrepreneurs, particularly in the context of developing economies. We hypothesize that improving entrepreneurs' communication practices will affect the relationships they form and have implications for their business performance. To test our theory, we conducted a field experiment in Togo with 301 entrepreneurs who were randomized into a communication practices intervention that was embedded in a business training program. We found that entrepreneurs who were exposed to better communication practices perceived interactions more cooperatively and exchanged more information during those interactions. Moreover, improving communication practices also led to a 50 percent increase in the number of relationships entrepreneurs formed with peers. These relationships exhibited more matching based on skill and were more ethnically diverse. Finally, communication practices training also substantially increased entrepreneurs' business performance. Our findings highlight how communication practices play a central role in entrepreneurs' ability to form portfolios of relationships and perform in challenging business environments.