From project managers to intrapreneurs: The role of external and intra-organizational social capital in promoting intrapreneurial activities among project managers

While prior research has highlighted dynamic capabilities as central to the role of project managers, the sensing capability remains comparatively underexplored at the individual project level. This study addresses that gap by examining how project managers leverage their internal social capital within the firm (intraorganizational social capital) and their external stakeholder networks (external social capital) to foster intrapreneurial behaviours, namely entrepreneurial behaviours enacted within existing organizations. The current study investigates how project managers leverage their social capital within the firm (intraorganizational social capital) and their external networks with stakeholders (external social capital) to foster intrapreneurial behaviors, meaning entrepreneurship within existing organizations. In the first phase, we surveyed 1,024 project managers, and in the second phase, 255 project managers and their supervisor dyads. Findings reveal that intrapreneurial behaviors mediate the relationship between social capital and project manager performance, with external social capital playing a more prominent role than its intraorganizational counterpart, particularly in exploration role activities. We also identified a discrepancy: intraorganizational social capital was significantly associated with intrapreneurial behaviors when assessed by project managers but failed to show significant connection when evaluated by their supervisors. This underscores the importance of repeated measurement and offers a more nuanced view of intraorganizational social capital as a relational asset shaping intrapreneurial behaviors. The study contributes to the dynamic capabilities framework by conceptualizing external and intra-organizational social capital as relational assets that enable project managers to behaviorally contribute to organizational dynamic capability processes. Specifically, project managers sense opportunities through external social capital, seize them through intrapreneurial behaviors, and reconfigure knowledge through exploration activities. Practically, project managers should cultivate external social capital, and organizations should encourage knowledge-sharing strategies.