Workplace Specialization, Individual Intra-Firm Experience Diversity and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The paradox between bureaucracy and entrepreneurship has drawn the interest of scholars from various fields; yet, the precise mechanisms through which bureaucratization shapes individuals’ transition to entrepreneurship remains theoretically ambiguous and empirically inconclusive. Using unique data from a large and established firm in the home appliance industry, I find that workplace specialization, which is an important organizational process of bureaucratization, stifles entrepreneurship, even accounting for individuals’ entrepreneurial capacity, which is measured as individuals’ intra-firm experience diversity. Moreover, I find that individuals’ workplace specialization and their intra-firm experience diversity have a positive interaction effect on individual rates of entrepreneurship, which I suggest reflects that potential synergy of these two processes in affecting individuals’ capacity of orchestrating organizational resources for entrepreneurial activities.