A central dilemma of social network research is conflicting results on whether strong ties are more important than weak ties. This study proposes that "ownership type" is a key contingent factor for resolving the strong tie versus weak tie dilemma. The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of managers' network ties on entrepreneurial economy hotels and to test whether the comparative effects of managers' strong ties versus weak ties differ among firms of different ownership types. Based on a survey of 230 general managers of economy hotels in China, the overall regression results show that the uses of network ties are positively related to firm performance. The subgroup analysis suggests that ownership type is a contingent factor for the strong tie and weak tie paradox. For private firms, the uses of weak ties (UWT) are positively related to firm performance; for joint ventures, the uses of strong ties (UWT) are positively related to firm performance; for SOEs, the uses of weak ties were negatively related to firm performance. These results are consistent with hypotheses derived from agency theory and institutional theory. Theoretically, this study provides new insights to resolve the paradox of social network theory regarding the relative importance of strong ties and weak ties and proved ownership type to be a new contingent factor. Practically, managers are encouraged to use a networking strategy to improve firm performance, but firms of different ownership types should use different networking strategies.