The relationship formation paths of International Entrepreneurs

The study of entrepreneurs’ relationships and their influence of firm development has been dominated by static analysis that typically discriminates dichotomously between ‘weak’ and ‘strong’. Little is known about other qualities of international entrepreneurs’ (IEs’) relationships and the paths that are followed in their formation. We employ a Multi-grounded Theorizing theory-building approach with ten IE cases in Iceland and Scotland to develop a descriptive framework that includes many types of relationship paths of relationship formation. This multi-dimensional relationship model usefully develops from conceptual foundations from entrepreneurship to an international setting. The richer picture of IEs’ relationships provided highlights the importance of weak relationships with embeddedness and commitment characteristics, and the path of development from low trust to high.