In this dissertation, I argue that the entrepreneurship education literature might be undersocialized in its understanding of how entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) impact entrepreneurial outcomes. I contend that this organizational context and the pedagogical approaches undertaken can arguably facilitate not only the development of founders' human capital--as research has emphasized--but also their social capital. I introduce into the entrepreneurship education literature, a social capital perspective to answer the questions (1) how do EEPs facilitate the development of founders' social capital and (2) how do founders' initial social capital influence their firm founding activities in the EEP? To address these questions, I conducted a mixed method, embedded case study of three EEPs. I drew upon interviews, observations, social network surveys, and documentation to test preliminary propositions and induct theory on potential mechanisms that facilitate founders' social capital development. The findings show that the chosen pedagogical models utilized in the training sessions may play a role in the structural social capital founders generate within the programs. Furthermore, I propose and offer description of three additional mechanisms by which EEPs facilitate founders' networking--namely: facilitating the acquisition of relational knowledge, brokering access to players, and social cost reduction. Moreover, I find that founders leverage their existing network while engaging in the program's directed activities. I explain that this may in part explain some of the reasons for mixed findings in research that examine the impact of entrepreneurship education. Taken together, I contribute to the literature on entrepreneurship education an embedded perspective on EEPs. I also offer to the literature on social networks and entrepreneurship insight into how organizations can facilitate the development of founders' social capital. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]