Typology of creative entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial success

Abstract

PurposeThe rise of creative economy has been the subject of considerable interest in the recent literature. Despite the growing effort to investigate entrepreneurship in creative industries, little work has been done to scrutinize the relationship between individual attributes of creative entrepreneurs and the new venture outcomes. Prior research shows that entrepreneurial creativity and opportunity recognition are the major determinants of entrepreneurs’ behavioral posture in the new venture process. Therefore, this study aims to explore the typology of creative entrepreneurs’ attitude to new venture creation using entrepreneurial creativity and opportunity recognition to categorize entrepreneurs in creative industries.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 291 entrepreneurs in creative industries of Taiwan and cluster analysis was used to categorize the research data.FindingsThe results identify four types of creative entrepreneurs, namely “creative constructionist”, “creative opportunist”, “creative designer” and “creative producer”. To better understand the role of creative entrepreneurs in affecting new venture success, the career outcomes perceived by entrepreneurs were compared between different categories. Results suggest that entrepreneurs who are categorized as “creative constructionist” have better career success in firm’s creative performance, personal career achievement, social reputation, entrepreneurial satisfaction and entrepreneurial happiness. Moreover, findings also suggest that constructionist type of creative entrepreneurs have the lowest intention to quit the entrepreneurial career.Originality/valueThis paper confirms that entrepreneurial creativity and opportunity recognition complement each other to accomplish entrepreneurs’ career success. Its findings shed light on entrepreneurs’ attribute typology as well as how the typology is linked to entrepreneurial career success in creative industries. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.