Entrepreneurship Turncoat: Connotative Features, Theoretical Framework and Research Prospects

Abstract

In order to systematically expound the concept of “entrepreneurship turncoat”, this paper clarifies the connotation and characteristics of “entrepreneurship turncoat” through literature review and concept comparison, uses logical derivation to construct the theoretical basis for explaining the concept of “entrepreneurship turncoat” and the theoretical framework for the research of “entrepreneurship turncoat”, and analyzes the motivation, opportunity analysis, destination selection and destructiveness of “entrepreneurship turncoat” by focusing on the antecedent variables, process variables and result variables of “entrepreneurship turncoat”. Through literature review, this paper firstly puts forward the connotation of “entrepreneurial turncoat”, conceptually expounds the difference between “spin-off entrepreneurship”“turnover entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneurial turncoat”, and analyzes the characteristics of “entrepreneurial turncoat” from four aspects: contract dimension, destination dimension, time dimension and quantity dimension. Then, based on the behavioral planning theory, affective event theory, contract theory and knowledge-based theory, the antecedent, process, and result of “entrepreneurial turncoat” are analyzed from three levels: individual, organization and environment. Finally, on the basis of the above analysis, a theoretical framework explaining the concept of “entrepreneurial turncoat” is constructed, and future research directions are proposed.The findings are as follows: First, previous studies mistakenly classify the phenomenon of “entrepreneurial turncoat” as the category of entrepreneurial team splitting, and confuse it with the phenomenon of “spin-off entrepreneurship” and “turnover entrepreneurship”. Second, the research of “entrepreneurial turncoat” focuses on the perspective of the founder, and discusses the impact of “entrepreneurial turncoat” on the original company and the founder based on the value judgment of whether this behavior is in line with the interests of the founder. Third, “entrepreneurial turncoat” can be represented by eight mutually symmetrical behavioral characteristics in terms of contract, destination, time and quantity. Fourth, the uniqueness of the research on “entrepreneurial turncoat” is mainly reflected in the mining of antecedent variables and result variables at the individual level of the founder.This paper not only responds to the needs of the development of management practices, but also refines the concept of “entrepreneurial turncoat” in the entrepreneurial behavior of employees. It also innovatively discusses from the perspective of the founder. This is conducive to further enriching and extending the existing theoretical framework of employee turnover entrepreneurship. In addition, the purpose of this paper is not only to encourage scholars to refine academic concepts from the management phenomenon, but also to open the “black box” behind the phenomenon of “entrepreneurial turncoat”, calling for more management scholars to pay attention to this phenomenon and jointly promote the development of the theory of “entrepreneurial turncoat”.