Chinese entrepreneurs’ human and social capital benefiting innovation: in China and in the Chinese diaspora

An entrepreneur’s innovative work tends to benefit from the entrepreneur’s human and social capital. The entrepreneur’s human and social capital depend on the social context, specifically whether the entrepreneur is residing in the home country or in the diaspora. The dual embeddedness of migrants may have a reinforcing or a countervailing impact on the benefits of human and social capital for innovation. Using a sample of 3,593 Chinese entrepreneurs in China and 177 Chinese entrepreneurs residing abroad, we examine the benefits of human and social capital for innovation, comparing Chinese entrepreneurs in China with Chinese entrepreneurs in diaspora. We find that the level of education, entrepreneurial competencies and social capital varied between entrepreneurs in home country and diaspora. Of the social and human capitals considered in this study, we found that only the more specific entrepreneurial competencies showed different dynamics for innovation in the diaspora compared to the home country.