Initial Networking Processes of Student Entrepreneurs: The Role of Action and Evaluation

We study initial entrepreneurial networking, and describe it as a process of initiating, reacting, and evaluating networking. Our study of student entrepreneurs’ weekly diaries particularly points at the interaction of networking actions and cognitive evaluations. We introduce the concept of network momentum, which refers to the entrepreneur’s perception that the network starts to exist without the immediate effort of the entrepreneur, and we analyze the processes that lead to the establishment of network momentum. Our study contributes to the emergent literature on entrepreneurial networking and the role of cognitive evaluative processes in particular.