Will Networks in Military Life Influence Veteran’s Entrepreneurial Intention? Institutional Impacts on Transitional Entrepreneurship

This research studies how military and civilian networks influence military veteran’s perceived resource acquisition and consequently their entrepreneurial intention (EI). Building on social network theory and institutional theory, we argue that the effects of a network consisting of military ties may be more limited than its civilian counterpart in increasing veteran’s EI. The institutional gap between military and civilian life increases the difficulty of making the transition and therefore disconnects the link between one’s military network and their EI via resource acquisition. Using questionnaire survey data collected from 261 veteran students in a public university in the US, we found that the strength and the size of networks in both civilian and military life increased perceived resource acquisition in a startup. However, only the perceived resource acquisition from the civilian network, not from the military network, increased the veteran’s EI. This study contributes to network-based entrepreneurship literature and the emerging studies on transitional entrepreneurship.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gradposters2023_business/1003/thumbnail.jp