Angel Cognition, Human Capital, and Active Involvement in Business-Angel-Networkss Governance and Management

Abstract

The present research sets out to reach a better understanding of the determinants of business angels’ active involvement in making BANs accomplish diverse functions and building cognitive resources and shared competencies. We propose a framework where angels’ human capital and cognitive process (in terms of predictive vs. control-oriented behavior) are key in explaining their degree and type of involvement with diverse BAN activities. To test the related assumptions, we conducted a questionnaire survey with the members of one of the largest French business angel networks. Our results show that business angels with a control-oriented decision-making style, as well as angels with previous professional experiences in marketing and sales, strategy, or as a CEO tend to be more actively involved in key BAN activities, both at the network level and at the investee ventures level.