Uso de Mídias Sociais, Capital Social Online e Desempenho a partir da Moderação da Competência Social: um Estudo com Empreendedoras do Triângulo Mineiro

Abstract

Female entrepreneurship is a worldwide phenomenon that has regional and global impacts, as much in the economy as in social and human development. Among the factors that have contributed to the creation of businesses by women, especially in developing countries, are social media. In this context, the aim of this study was to investigate how the effects of the use of social media on online social capital and of the online social capital on the performance of female business varies according to the level of social competence of female entrepreneurs. Therefore, a quantitative and descriptive research approach was adopted. Based on the literature and under the prism of the Contingent Resourced-Based Theory, a conceptual model was proposed and tested using Structural Equation Modeling. The sample is composed of 244 entrepreneurs from Triângulo Mineiro who answered an online questionnaire. The results of the study showed that the use of social media as a management tool has a positive effect on the online social capital of female entrepreneurs and that this, in turn, positively impacts the financial and non-financial performance of the ventures. Furthermore, as an original contribution of this research, it was identified that these relationships are moderated by the level of social competence of women entrepreneurs, that is, the higher the level of social competence of women entrepreneurs, the stronger the effect of the use of social media on capital online social capital and of the online social capital on enterprise performance. These findings are relevant because, since social competence can act as a complementary resource to the use of social media and is likely to be trained and developed, it is possible that the contributions of this study help to think of guidelines for actions and policies that promote better conditions for entrepreneurs thrive in their ventures.