Understanding Voluntary Turnover of Discontinued Entrepreneurs in Salaried Employment

Abstract

Whereas retention of discontinued entrepreneurs–those who were once founders in business ventures–holds the key to understanding the benefits many hiring firms may gain from attracting entrepreneurial human capital, prior research has exclusively focused on understanding the odds and success of individuals’ re- entry into entrepreneurship. Little is known about former entrepreneurs who join established firms and less is concerned about their tendency to leave. Integrating the sociological career perspective and social identity theory, this article considers voluntary turnover as a critical post-entrepreneurship outcome and illustrates how entrepreneurial experience can lead to a higher likelihood of quitting in subsequent salaried jobs. With a particular eye toward understanding entrepreneurially featured work context, we further illuminate how job design mitigates the impact of entrepreneurial experience on voluntary turnover. Support for our arguments comes from a unique longitudinal sample matched between NLSY79 and O*Net datasets. The findings deepen our understanding of the dynamic nature of the entrepreneurial career and have implications for firms to retain entrepreneurial talents.