The proposition that entrepreneurs’ innovation is embedded in networking is refined. We distinguish between networking in the public sphere and networking in the private sphere, and hypothesize that innovation benefits from public sphere networking but suffers from private sphere networking. These hypotheses are tested with a representative sample of 56,611 entrepreneurs in 61 countries surveyed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Hierarchical linear modeling shows that, while overall networking benefits innovation, innovation is decreased by private sphere networking and increased by networking in the public sphere, especially in the professions and internationally. A further refinement is to consider entrepreneurs’ endeavors as embedded in society with its system of education for entrepreneurship. We hypothesize that the quality of a national system moderates the impacts of networks on innovation by adding value to networks. Analyses show that quality of national educational system adds innovation benefits to both public sphere networking and private sphere networking.

An entrepreneur usually has an expectation for the firm, expecting expansion, stability or contraction. Expectation is influenced by the entrepreneur's attributes, but expectation is also embedded in the micro-environment of networking and the macro-environment of culture. Traditional culture and secular-rational culture differ in roles for women, which influence women entrepreneurs' networking and expectations. The design compares cultures, with data from three traditional societies, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia and two secular-rational societies, France and Belgium, surveyed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, randomly sampling 39,336 women, including 2,306 entrepreneurs. Analyses show that women entrepreneurs have growth-expectations based on their background and increased by their competence and opportunity-motive, which also promote business networks around their firms. Formation of expectations is embedded in the networks in the way that networking increases expectations. Formation of expectations is embedded in culture in the way that, surprisingly, expectations are higher in traditional culture than in secular-rational culture.

Domestic Caribbean entrepreneurs are embedded in their home-society. Diasporic entrepreneurs have a dual embeddedness in home-society and in host-society, with networks spanning both societies, which may give them comparative advantages in innovation, exporting and growth. Enterprising is traditionally a livelihood in the Caribbean, which is carried into the diaspora and sustained by dense ties between host- and home-societies. The empirical contribution is a three-way comparison between the Caribbean diaspora, the domestic Caribbeans and diasporans from other world regions. It uses a representative sample of adults living in, or originating from, the Caribbean. Diasporans are found to often become entrepreneurs by a pull of opportunity, whereas domestics are more likely to experience a push of necessity. Diasporans, more than domestics, are networking in the transnational sphere and in the sphere of business operations. This networking promotes outcomes such as innovation, exporting and growth expectations, in contrast to negative effects from networking in the private sphere. Policies may enhance benefits of diasporic entrepreneurship for Caribbean society.

When a woman perceives legitimacy in her job as an entrepreneur from networks that are often influenced by the gender hierarchy that grants men higher status than women, she is encouraged in her job. What are the effects of gender hierarchy and networks on the legitimacy a female entrepreneur perceives and on her satisfaction and commitment to the job? A sample of 5997 female entrepreneurs in the developing world was surveyed for Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. They were found to experience legitimacy as entrepreneurs in their networks in the private sphere and the business sphere. Gender hierarchy constrains legitimacy more in the private sphere than it does in the business sphere. Legitimacy in the business sphere can fulfil the need to feel competent and enhance job satisfaction, while legitimacy in the private sphere can fulfil the need to feel related and enhance job commitment. The account contributes to a two-level contextualization of experiences: micro-level embedding in networks that are nested in macro-level embedding in gender hierarchy.