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Abstract Despite the widely shared belief that resources acquisition is essential to new business creation,the question of what are the key factors that influence the resources acquisition of peasant entrepreneurs remains unclear . Also,the effects of peasant entrepreneurs'networking activities on their resources acquisition have not been fully explored . To address these gaps in the previous research,we conducted a survey of324 peasant entrepreneurs in order to investigate the effects of network size,tie strength,social skills and networking activities on peasant entrepreneur's resources acquisition . Firstly,it is shown that the peasant entrepreneurs'n etwork characteristics,social skills and networking activities play a vital rolein their acquisition of entrepreneurial resources .Firstly,the characteristics of peasant entrepreneurs'social networks impact on their acquisition of entrepreneurial resources . The effect of resource acquisition is associated with network size . The greater the peasant entrepreneurs'network size is,the richer the resources embedded in the network will be . Only a certain size of network can ensure sufficient entrepreneurial resources acquired by peasant entrepreneurs . Peasant entrepreneurs with larger network size can acquire more resources,but not at higher speed . Tie strength is a major factor that produces influences on the efficiency of resources acquisition .Based on emotional bond and trust,it can help peasant entrepreneurs to access the demanded entrepreneurial resources more quickly,whereas the efficiency of obtaining entrepreneurial resources by other means or though other weak ties is relatively low . Network size and tie strength exert different influences on the acquisition of different entrepreneurial resources . The former influences the acquisition of material resources and information resources,however,the latter simply acts on material resources . Secondly,peasant entrepreneurs'social skills also exert effects on the acquisition of entrepreneurial resources . Social skills,which are deemed as the key to the acquisition of entrepreneurial resources,influence the peasant entrepreneurs'acquisition of information and other resources . If peasant entrepreneurs hope to obtain more resources from social networks,they must possess the desired social skills . Only by taking full advantages of social skills and overcoming various barriers through building and expanding all kinds of network ties,can peasant entrepreneurs acquire entrepreneurial resources more effectively . Thirdly,networking activities of peasant entrepreneurs also influence resources acquisition . The former in proportion to the latter but the former's effect manifests marginal decrease,The relation between these two can therefore be presented by a shape of inversed-U . If peasant entrepreneurs invest more time in networking activities,the possibility of resource acquisition from social networks will definitely be increased . However,as is shown by our research results,extra networking activities require more costs,so it may diminish the returns of resources . That is to say,if extra networking activities can not incent relevant parties to provide more resources,it will make no contribution to the efficiency and effect of resources acquisition . This research has discovered the different influences of network size and tie strength on the efficiency and effect of resource acquisition of various kinds . This discovery supports and strengthens the theoretical argument that social networks act upon entrepreneurial activities .On the other hand,it has complemented to the previous studies to some extent . Although previous studies have mentioned that the entrepreneurs'social skills impact on resources acquisition and then on the establishment and performance of new businesses,few empirical research on the relation between entrepreneurs'social skills and resources acquisition has been conducted up to now . Theoretical interpretation about the relation between social skills and entrepreneurial activities has been added to this research,which can be further explored in terms of the inherent mechanism of such influences . It is also found that networking activities bring positive but marginal decrease influence on resources acquisition,which supports the statement in previous studies that networking activities get diminishing marginal returns of resources and provides empirical evidences for time opportunity cost of networking activities .
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2013, Vol. 43 
