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Abstract Opportunity Searching is the first step in finding opportunities for entrepreneur in small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on social capital theory, entrepreneur’s social capital is consisting of external social network and internal social network. As the main environment for searching and analyzing information, entrepreneur’s internal and external social capital play a great role on entrepreneur’s Opportunity Search Capability. In a sample of 233 entrepreneurs in China, the multiple regression analysis found that: (1) External social networks, especially public network and expert network, could enhance the entrepreneurial Opportunity Search Capability. (2)Internal social capital, especially TMT’ educational heterogeneity and TMT’s social networks diversity, has a positive impact on the entrepreneurial Opportunity Search Capability. Finally, practical implications and suggestions are discussed. This research deepens the entrepreneurial opportunity discovery theory and makes up for the deficiency of lacking empirical studies from the point of view of network construction.
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Received: 29 December 2015
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2016, Vol. 13 
