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Knitting Community: Human and Social Capital in the Transition to Entrepreneurship
About the Research
The process by which individuals become entrepreneurs is often described as a decisive moment of transition, yet it necessarily involves a series of smaller steps. This study examines how human capital and social capital are accumulated and deployed in the earliest stages of the entrepreneurial transition in the setting of platform-based entrepreneurship. Using the unique dataset from Ravelry—often referred to as “the Facebook of knitters”—we study why and how some knitters make transitions to become commercial designers who create and sell their original pattern products. We first find that individuals with a higher level of skills and experiences are more likely to transition to entrepreneurship, while many highly skilled individuals still remain to be on the consumer side of the platform until they get encouraged by (mostly random) social interactions. Building on this observation, we show that when a knitter joins a local in-person meetup group, the probability of her entrepreneurial transition in the online marketplace increases by 25 percent. Importantly, we discovered that social capital can amplify human capital, producing the greatest effect on the most skilled individuals. The quantitative analysis resonates with qualitative evidence that hobbyists transition to entrepreneurs when encouraged by like-minded people in their in-person interactions.
About Hyejun Kim
Hyejun Kim studies economic sociology of innovation and entrepreneurship. Her research setting spans a wide variety of creative industries from knit designers, comics creators, and other platform-based creators and entrepreneurs. She has a PhD in Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Date: Thursday 13 March, 2025
Time: 12:45-14:15 CEST
Venue: Room Roland Calori (B3), (Zoom link provided to registered attendees)
Reminder: We no longer provide food as per school policy…
Should you want to attend, please register at https://forms.gle/rYxqPmw7cZsCrsHU8
