Abstract
We contribute to the literature on social influence and entrepreneurship. To reduce the concerns of network endogeneity, we use a longitudinal field experiment with a pre-test/post-test design in which students in an entrepreneurship class were randomly assigned to receive mentorship from either an entrepreneur or a non-entrepreneur. Furthermore, by making a distinction between organizational roles with differing characteristics (i.e. founder vs. joiner), our research design helps deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of social influence on career choice. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized trial of adding a network tie in entrepreneurship. Performance data suggests social influence is not encouraging “worse” entrepreneurship, and may have helped students to become more discerning in joining or founding better performing ventures.
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