Women entrepreneurship and social capital

Human resources are the social capital of a firm and business life, based on trust as well as on expertise, values and cultural diversity. This calls for cross-cultural knowledge and an understanding of gender issues and individual differences in the social capital of the firm and society.

The dialogue between women entrepreneurship and social capital theory and research has its special place among other women entrepreneurship books, the number of which has lately increased. It strengthens still in some respect the fragmented voice of women entrepreneurship research by providing a landscape of women entrepreneurs as creators of, and created by, social capital. It indicates how women entrepreneurs appear to have a special position in forming, developing and reorganizing the social capital in the business world.

In its eleven chapters, twenty-six researchers representing a variety of disciplines from different parts of the world are presenting findings on diverse aspects of the dialogue between women entrepreneurship and social capital. As a consequence the central concepts, social capital, entrepreneurship and gender, are given a variety of meanings. Women entrepreneurs and business owners regardless of their cultural context, branch and education provide interesting ideas to the global debate on equality and social capital.