RESEARCH ARTICLE Human capital accumulation and its effect on agribusiness performance: the case of China Thomas Bilaliib Udimal 1 & Zhuang Jincai 1 & Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba 1 & Patrick Boateng Sarpong 1 Received: 14 April 2017 /Accepted: 31 July 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 Abstract This study investigates the effect of accumu- lated human capital on the performance of agribusi- nesses in China. Four hundred fifty agribusiness owners were interviewed for the study. Growth in sales over the last 5 years was used as a measure of performance. The following variables were reviewed and captured as those constituting human capital: education, raised in the area, parents being entrepreneurs, attending business seminars/trade fairs, managerial experience, similar work experience, cooperative membership, and training. Logit regression model and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The logit regression model was used to analyze the effect of accumulated human capital on growth in sales. The inferential statistics on the other hand was used to measure the association between age, education, sex, provinces, and the categories of growth. Our study found that parents who are entrepre- neurs and attend business seminars/trade fairs, as well as have managerial experience, similar work experience, education, and training, display a statistically significant positive effect on the growth in sales. Keywords Agribusiness performance . Human capital accumulation . Growth in sales . Cooperative membership . China Introduction The success of every business venture is incumbent on the human resource. Human capital is required at the opportunity identification phase, business start-up phase, and ongoing phase of every business since each phase presents different opportunities and challenges. According to Svendsen and Svendsen (2009), human capital is the productive capacity of a human being and encompasses the accumulation of capa- bilities held by individuals such as knowledge, education, training, skills, as well as physical and mental characteristics like behavioral habits and physical mental health. For success- ful entrepreneurial activity, human capital should not be dislodged from it. Entrepreneurial human capital refers to the skills and knowledge acquired by an entrepreneur. Human capital determines the ability of the entrepreneur not only to recognize an economic opportunity but also to exploit it efficiently by setting up a venture. Researchers, including Minniti and Bygrave (2001) and Malerba (2007), have come to accept the importance of learn- ing throughout the entrepreneurial processes of exploring, dis- covering, and pursuing new business opportunities. According to Shane (2000), knowledge acquired through learning affects the owner’ s capacity to recognize and assess valuable business opportunities and to develop the initial idea into a new product or service (Ravasi and Turati 2005). Entrepreneurs after the discovery of business opportunities rely on the relevant knowledge they have accumulated over the years to take decisions and take more knowledgeable ac- tions when faced with ambiguity and uncertainty (Minniti and Bygrave 2001). The process from the initial intuition to the launch of a new product incorporates a learning process in which the owner plays the key role. Most agribusiness enterprises especially crop production in China are carried out at the countryside where the main Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Thomas Bilaliib Udimal tbudimal2007@yahoo.com 1 School of Management and Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, People’ s Republic of China Environ Sci Pollut Res DOI 10.1007/s11356-017-9867-7