Social Competence in Small Firms: Fostering Workplace Learning and Performance

• In Event: Social Issues and Content Domains in Workplace Learning

Abstract

The ability of individuals to develop relationships for guidance, support, mentoring and networks for further development seems to be crucial for learning and success in modern society. We argue that this proposition is especially true in a small-business context. Based on social capital theory we assert that social competence enables the formation and development of relationships and networks. To empirically study the postulated importance of social competence a qualitative (n=13) and quantitative (n=518) study were conducted. The results show that two social competence domains were frequently mentioned namely: i) a social learning orientation, and ii) social perception. The quantitative study shows that both elicited domains had a significant effect on small firm performance, although their influence was context-dependent.

Authors

• Thomas Lans, Wageningen University

• Frans Verhees, Wageningen University

• Jos Verstegen, Wageningen University