Social Capital, Network Diversity, and the Performance of Women Entrepreneurs in Lagos: An Empirical Study

This study empirically examines the relationship between social capital dimensions, particularly network diversity, and the business performance of women entrepreneurs in Lagos State, South West Nigeria, addressing the gap in evidence on how the structure and content of women entrepreneurs' networks affect their ability to access resources, information, and opportunities for business development. Social capital theory predicts differential performance outcomes based on network structural features, but research in the Nigerian context has focused predominantly on network size and co-ethnic ties, leaving the performance implications of network diversity poorly understood. The study employs a cross-sectional survey design, collecting social network data and business performance indicators from 210 women entrepreneurs operating established businesses in three Lagos commercial districts. Network diversity is operationalised across gender diversity, sectoral diversity, and ethnic diversity dimensions. Resource access, information quality, and referral business generation are measured as social capital outcomes. Multiple regression and social network analysis are applied. Findings indicate that cross-gender network ties, particularly relationships with male business mentors and corporate sector contacts, are the strongest predictors of women entrepreneurs' access to growth finance and anchor customer relationships. Ethnic network diversity is positively associated with market expansion into new customer segments. Homophilous networks composed exclusively of female entrepreneurs in the same sector show positive associations with moral support and collective problem-solving but negative associations with resource diversity. Keywords: social capital, network diversity, women entrepreneurs, Lagos, business performance.