Venture Creation Research Articles

Questions worth asking for futures worth making: an effectual approach

It is not unusual in the psychology and economics of entrepreneurship to focus on decision models based on predictive reasoning that explain outcomes such as venture creation (at the micro level), firm performance (meso level), or job creation (macro level). However, in this article, derived from the literature on entrepreneurial expertise, I argue for an embrace of uncertainty, where outcomes are not only unknown, but unknowable, hence undermining predictive criteria for actions and decisions. By focusing on principles and processes that do not entail predictive reasoning, effectuation offers both practical guidance for acting in the face of multiple uncertainties and novel research questions not yet examined through the lens of the entrepreneurial method. Specifically, I offer five possible new ventures for future research built on the five principles of effectuation. These pertain to new futures worth making, without prescribing or predicting what those would, could, or should be.

New model for making resilient decisions in an uncertain context: The rational resilience-based decision-making model (R2DM)

The present paper came into existence with the specific purpose of providing an optimized process that enables making resilient decisions in an uncertain context, and here our interest is particularly focused on the activity of new venture creation and on the entrepreneurial decision-making logic, in particular, effectuation theory. Within this framework, the rational resilience-based decision-making model (R2DM) is introduced. The relevant steps of this model are: (1) The identification of the problem and the available options. In this instance, the studied situation is the effectual customer co-creation case, and the available alternatives are planning, visionary, adaptative and transforming approaches, (2) The definition of the selection criteria that should be used to evaluate the available alternatives. In our case, these criteria are the six principles of entrepreneurial resilience, which are set out in detail, (3) The choice of the methodology to be followed in assessing the available options. To that end, three interconnected methods, based mainly on logical thinking and reasoning, are proposed. They are respectively devoted to Entrepreneurial resilience (ER) calculation, options classification using logistic regression algorithm, and the determination of the most resilient route to reach objectives employing graph theory. The obtained results are compared to what is advocated in the literature and conclusions are made.

Influence of digital divide in the entrepreneurial motor of a digital economy: a system dynamics approach

The creation of digital ventures in developing countries is an alternative to the generation of jobs in the ICT sector, but the lack of qualified individuals in ICT-related skills inhibits the growth of new companies, a gap that is analyzed with the digital divide theory. This research aims to understand the dynamics using a simulation model that combines aspects of the adoption of ICTS, internet availability, skills, with the entrepreneurial motor of innovation systems. The methodology is developed with data from a national ICT survey and organizations in Colombia. Different scenarios are analyzed regarding ICT education and inclusive policies. Results show that Covid-19 pandemic consequences could have a negative effect during five years and that under a scenario of accelerated growth of ICT, the sector could demand up to 400.000 ICT- related jobs by 2035. The main contribution of this research is the understanding of the ICT systems from an inclusive perspective, identifying the key variables that determine the growth of ventures and the development of digital skills among individuals.

The interplay between market need urgency, entrepreneurial push and pull insights and opportunity confidence in the course of new venture creation in the developing country context

This study investigates the complex relationships between market need urgency (MNU), entrepreneurial push and pull insights driven by supply (SDI) and demand (DDI), and opportunity confidence (OC), resulting in new venture creation (NVC) from the perspective of nascent entrepreneur's perceptions in the developing country context. Departing from the discovery and creation views of the entrepreneurial process, it builds on the seminal works of Sarasvathy et al. (2003) and Dimov (2007a) to examine how demand- and supply-driven insights and opportunity confidence are related, especially when nascent entrepreneurs think there is urgency for a specific need in a developing country marketplace. Using binary logistic regressions, we test the research hypotheses on a dataset of nascent entrepreneurs who were traced for four years. We find that the MNU is a subtle predictor of NVC, both directly and indirectly through OC. We also find that OC is a crucial element in accelerating entrepreneurial activity, either when there is a market need urgency or the entrepreneur has a firm opinion about the markets and technologies related to a specific product/service. The results suggest that nascent entrepreneurs operate by their perceptions of markets and technologies, yet their confidence levels play a major role in moving onto the stage of new venture creation. Furthermore, results suggest that nascent entrepreneurs' market and technology-related entrepreneurial insights, opportunity confidence, and their co-existence in distinct settings such as isolated third world countries are relatively new phenomena that require deeper investigation. Finally, this research provides implications that give entrepreneurship educators, practitioners, and policymakers informed choices to encourage entrepreneurial learning and experiencing processes specifically in higher education settings in developing countries.

The Contribution of University in Developing Entrepreneurial Students Towards New Venture Creation

The university context in which students are embedded plays a central role in providing students with learning and motivation to think and act entrepreneurially. There is a vibrant research stream that has shown that university offerings affect students’ transition to an entrepreneurial career and on antecedents or enablers of entry, such as entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial knowledge. Student proclivity to begin a venture may be affected not only by the university environment where they are exposed to entrepreneurship but also by perceptions of how desirable entrepreneurial behaviour is considered to be in a given society. The paper explores the drivers of the intention of entrepreneur students in UMK of new venture creation, particularly specialising in the role of university entrepreneurship-related offerings and students' prior business experience. The main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between the contribution of the university to entrepreneurial education, mentoring support, and financial support towards new venture creation. A complete of 346 questionnaires were collected. Using SPSS tools containing Preliminary Analysis, Descriptive Analysis, Reliability and Validity Test, Normality Test and Spearman Correlation Analysis, data analysis was administrated. The result shows the correlation between entrepreneurial education, mentoring support, and financial support towards new venture creation is significant. In conclusion, entrepreneurship courses can be elective and compulsory and generally aim to stimulate entrepreneurial learning by imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes related to entrepreneurship.

External enablers and entrepreneurial ecosystems: The brokering role of the anchor tenant in capacitating grassroots ecopreneurs

AbstractResearch SummaryWe study how environmental enablers, specifically disruptive ecological shifts, and subsequent regulatory activity, led to the formation of a local ecopreneur ecosystem in Kenya and how this process was facilitated by the brokerage role of an international NGO. Drawing from the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature, and using a strategic network perspective to conceptually map salient interorganizational ties, multilevel engagement, and resource generation, we utilize qualitative grounded theory analysis to argue that environmental changes have catalyzed the regulatory change towards the formation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem for low‐resourced ecopreneurs. This process is facilitated through ecosystem brokering through an anchor tenant that accelerates knowledge, resources, and viable exchanges to advance venture sustainability.Managerial SummaryOur study unpacks how regulatory responses to environmental shifts enable the systemic development of venture creation. We explore how environmental changes, first in the natural environment, and subsequently, the regulatory environment—influence ecosystem emergence for entrepreneurial activity. We present three dimensions of regulatory enablement that shift conditions to favor venture building. Problem framing by the regulatory sector signals potential opportunities for entrepreneurs for value creation. Prioritization of this problem, emphasized in the government's regulation, sets new agendas and implies that new rules and resources would be allocated towards such opportunities. New rules also reconfigure boundaries to invite new actors and interactions into the discourse on environmental preservation in Kenya.

External enablers in existing organizations: Emergence, novelty, and persistence of entrepreneurial initiatives

AbstractResearch SummaryThere is growing consensus that exogenous environmental changes can affect entrepreneurship. The external enabler framework, which provides the structures and terminology to analyze these enabling effects, has typically focused on new venture creation. In an attempt to extend the external enabler framework to corporate entrepreneurship and innovation, our longitudinal multiple‐case study explores how environmental changes enable entrepreneurial initiatives in existing organizations. Our findings contribute to the external enabler framework, corporate entrepreneurship, and innovation literature by identifying new conceptual tools to understand the enabling effect of environmental change for the emergence, novelty, and persistence of entrepreneurial initiatives in existing organizations.Managerial SummaryWe studied how the Covid‐19 pandemic enabled the initiation and continuation of entrepreneurial activities. Our study of eight small US‐based news companies shows that some entrepreneurial initiatives emerged as these organizations redirected their course of action toward new initiatives enabled by the changes in the external environment. Notably, the entrepreneurial initiatives that were new‐to‐the‐industry originated from ideas that were already available in some form within the organization but were not in use until the pandemic gave them a second life. Furthermore, the continuation of these initiatives depended on the persistence of the changes in the environment and on the low maintenance requirements of these initiatives in terms of time, effort, and resources.

Exploring the entrepreneurial competencies of E-commerce entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial competencies (ECs) are increasingly being linked to the creation, performance, and growth of entrepreneurial ventures. Nonetheless, the approaches to examining entrepreneurship competencies in the e-commerce context are largely unexplored. The current study was designed with the primary goal of exploring the ECs of e-commerce entrepreneurs. A systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines was undertaken to synthesize the initial draft of competencies. Subsequently a modified two round Delphi survey employing a panel of 20 experts was used to quantitatively rate the competencies. The analysis followed the prescribed Delphi guidelines to establish the reliability and validity of the results. The outcome established a comprehensive set of 28 competencies across 18 competency areas categorized within three functional roles (founder, managerial and digital roles). While filling an important literature gap, the study provides the basis for an agenda for focus in training, education, and the development of e-commerce entrepreneurs.

Open innovation in nascent ventures: Does openness influence the speed of reaching critical milestones?

Research on open innovation (OI) has demonstrated the benefits of openness for firm innovation processes, but studies have mostly offered cross-sectional insights on incumbent firms. This study offers a more dynamic perspective on the relevance of OI for nascent ventures. Combining entrepreneurship and OI theories, we argue that it is key for resource-scarce nascent ventures to achieve critical venture-creation milestones. While OI can help these ventures to leverage salient external partnerships, we argue that it affects their speed of reaching these milestones. We test our hypotheses on a longitudinal sample focusing on external collaboration practices of nascent ventures in the renewable energy or information and communications technology industries. Our results show that, while engaging in R&D collaborations slows down nascent ventures’ product development and sustainable profit generation activities, joining industry associations does not have a slow-down effect. Our results complement the OI literature by warning about the downsides of openness for nascent ventures, particularly during the venture creation phase, where speed is a high priority.

‘How might we?’: Studying new venture ideation in and through practices

Recent scholarship focuses on new venture ideation—the process of generating and developing new venture ideas—separately from venture development, as the creation of new ventures begins with new venture ideas. In this study, we ask which practices are being enacted to carry out new venture ideation, and how and why are they constituted by aspiring entrepreneurs. By conducting a video ethnography, we find that aspiring entrepreneurs utilize six practices, i.e., ‘how might we’, ‘seeing’, ‘do you mean’, ‘yes, and’, ‘invitation’, and ‘but, what’ linked to the formulation, explaining, extending and questioning of new venture ideas. Our study extends the relational perspective of new venture ideation by detailing the relations between conversation, bodies and visual artefacts that facilitate the joint exercise of entrepreneurial imagination.

A note on the effects of start-up competitions: experience from the Czech Business Plan Contest “Idea of the Year”

The study contributes to the scholarly discussion on the effects of business plan competitions by assessing the survival and performance of the entrepreneurial teams participating in the Czech Business Plan Contest “Idea of the Year” during the years 2010–2015. The implemented research design followed up with the finalists, receiving financial and non-financial rewards 5 years after participating in the contest. The implemented scientific methods include mainly survival analysis and applied statistical techniques, such as cross-tabulations, tests of association, t-tests and correlation analysis. The obtained results allowed us to empirically support a hypothesis assuming that participation in the business plan contest positively relates to new venture creation, start-up survival, and performance. The study provides a series of recommendations for the contest’s organizers, especially in terms of evaluation and monitoring and encouraging the projects’ diversity. The added value for the international scholarship is that the article utilizes a complex theoretical framework combining various types of entrepreneurial capital that may be well used in future studies aiming to assess the impacts of start-up competitions.

Concentration and Innovation in the Defence Industry: A Stochastic Game

ABSTRACT The relationship between industry structure, aggregate R&D activity and the quality level of the resulting innovation is investigated in a simple stochastic one-shot game in which all firms share the same probability of attaining the innovation concerning a new weapon system and therefore obtaining the contract from the government. The main findings of the game can be summarised as follows. Although only performing numerical calculations, the model predicts the existence of a concave and single-peaked relationship between aggregate R&D and industry structure, making it desirable to adjust concentration in order to reach that peak. However, the degree of concentration that maximises the final quality level of the innovation is higher than that maximises industry-wide R&D efforts, except in the special case in which technical knowledge freely spills over across firms, thanks to the creation of a research joint venture involving all firms.

Short-term mindfulness meditation training improves antecedents of opportunity recognition

Entrepreneurial venture creation hinges on opportunity recognition, which is enabled by malleable cognitive characteristics such as alertness, creativity, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Meditation presents a promising strategy for cultivating these antecedents. In two studies, we examined the immediate effects of meditation on the antecedents of opportunity recognition. In Study 1, a 12-min guided meditation was administered to nascent entrepreneurs in a pre-post within-subjects experimental design. In Study 2, a 15-min breath counting task was used to assess how variations in accuracy and breathing rate shaped differences in outcomes. We found that the intervention in Study 1 had a small effect on alertness (d = 0.44), a medium effect on creativity (d = 0.79), and a large effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy (d = 0.93). Study 2 revealed a more nuanced relationship, whereby faster breathing rates predicted greater counting accuracy and alertness; in contrast, slower breathing rates and more frequent mind-wandering predicted greater uniqueness in the generated ideas. These findings suggest that meditation is useful for nascent entrepreneurs to prime their minds for successful opportunity recognition. The improvement in creativity may not solely be due to meditative practice itself but rather to the periods of mind-wandering that occur during the practice.

The impact of digitalization on entrepreneurial activity and sustainable competitiveness: A panel data analysis

Public and private stakeholders increasingly rely on digital technologies to foster entrepreneurial ecosystems while pursuing the goal of sustainable competitiveness, which entails ensuring economic, environmental, and social development. Recently, the emergence of the twin transitions concept portraying an incontestable complementarity between digital and green transitions has led to calls for further research. Few studies have however investigated the antecedents of nations’ sustainable competitiveness. The present study fills this gap in the literature and quantitatively evaluates the effect of digitalization on entrepreneurial activity and sustainable competitiveness. It uses annual secondary data for an unbalanced panel of 34 countries from 2015 to 2018. Incorporating digitalization as a major disruptive factor that shapes our current lives, the results show that it positively affects entrepreneurial activity and sustainable competitiveness and that entrepreneurial activities drive sustainable competitiveness. The facets of digitalization influence sustainable competitiveness to various degrees; where connectivity, Internet use, and digital integration appear to be the main components affecting it. Whereas digital skills and digital public services are less significant. The results offer theoretical and practical implications for governments and policymakers, who are encouraged to nurture the creation of new ventures, ensure widespread and reliable connectivity, increase Internet use, and push for greater digital integration.

DOES RELIGIOSITY MATTER FOR NEW VENTURE CREATION AMONG GEN Y AND GEN Z IN INDONESIA?

This study provides empirical evidence of the role of religiosity in new venture creation and its additional moderating roles in individual entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge-sharing attitudes. It uses the lens of social cognitive and social capital theories by incorporating the generational cohort theory to explore Gen Y and Gen Z. This is a hypothetico-deductive study that employs a semi-structured survey of 84 Gen Y and 154 Gen Z respondents from Indonesia. The findings revealed that the effect of religiosity on venture creation was significantly negative for the Gen Y, and the two moderators played a significant role in the relationship between religiosity and venture creation only for the Gen Y. The findings of this study provide the new empirical discourse that even though the Gen Y and the Gen Z are considered digital natives, they have different religious views and behaviors notably when it comes to the decision to set up a new business. This study provides and opens new avenues for future research on this topic and highlights the urgency to explore the religious behavior of earlier generations towards venture creation.

Towards an understanding of how a higher education institution can enhance the impact of social enterprises through incubation

Abstract Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new concept in Estonia and measuring the social impact of enterprises is not yet the norm. It has gained more awareness during recent years and therefore several support instruments have been established. The aim of the paper is to provide a framework for impact analysis of an incubator and analysis of the evaluation of the program for social enterprises according to the designed framework. The incubation program itself was piloted at a higher education institution. The paper addresses the concept of social enterprises, new social venture creation, incubation by a higher education institution and its impact on social enterprises. While the development of enterprises is a common topic, the research on social impact incubators is still scarce. The study is characterised by a descriptive and an exploratory study design. The paper explores the social enterprise incubator through mixed-method two-stage content analysis of the applications and self-analysis reports of the participants of the incubator. In the process of the content analysis, qualitative data analysis is used. Finally, the paper concludes that the incubator was successful as it helped the social enterprises to become sustainable and enhanced their social impact. The limitation of the research is the evaluation design which addresses measuring the successfulness of the incubation immediately after the end of the programme and not in the long-term. The study contributes to the literature on measuring the successfulness of incubation processes and on the practice of incubating new social ventures with social impact.

Unemployment benefits, entrepreneurship policies, and new business creation

Besides their common link with unemployment, unemployment benefits are also relevant to the decision to become an entrepreneur. We thoroughly explored this relationship for a panel of 23 EU countries over the period 2001–2019. Our results demonstrate that generous unemployment compensations hinder entrepreneurial initiative, and those opportunity entrepreneurs, who are more likely to create new jobs and innovation, are affected more. Contrary to common belief, we find an unequal pattern of effects, with higher benefits being more detrimental at the beginning of the unemployment spell. A favourable policy framework results in being relevant for entrepreneurial endeavours on its own; in addition, high-quality policies and programmes for entrepreneurs are found to temper the negative effects of large unemployment benefits on new business creation during long unemployment spells. Our results support the call for properly designed unemployment benefit systems (as both level and time pattern) that ensure an optimum balance between adequate income replacement and poverty prevention, on the one hand, and limited side effects on new venture creation, on the other hand.

Entrepreneurial Intention: Does Social Intelligence Matter?

In Malaysia, entrepreneurship has been viewed as one of the active economic activities, which could boost the growth of nation and develop the individuals. However, the interest in entrepreneurship among Malaysian students is still low, where most of them prefer to be “job seeker” or “employee” instead of “job creator”. The role of education, generally, has been recognized as a crucial process in developing individuals by providing knowledge and skills. In order to support the creation of new venture among nascent entrepreneur, entrepreneurship education is viewed as crucial element that can encourage this happening which could help to reduce unemployment rate. The impact of social intelligence could be one of the crucial variables to be studied in order to predict the entrepreneurial intention among the students. Hence, this study examined the mediating effect of entrepreneurship motivation on the relationship between the variables. The study found there is a significant mediating effect of motivation on the relationship between education and entrepreneurial intention, but there is no significant mediating effect on the relationship between social intelligence and entrepreneurial intention. This paper discussed the implications and recommendations as well.

Place in Entrepreneurial Storytelling: A Study of Cultural Entrepreneurship in a Deprived Context

AbstractWe extend the cultural entrepreneurship perspective by investigating how entrepreneurs in deprived contexts gain legitimacy by leveraging proprietary and public places in their entrepreneurial storytelling. Inspired by the sociology of place, we present a longitudinal study of ten new venture journeys over four years in Kasoa, Ghana. We identify three distinct ways places are used in entrepreneurial narratives: projective significance of place, connective significance of place, and authoritative significance of place. We show how impoverished entrepreneurs construct and communicate places in diverse ways, not only as locations, but also as material and symbolic resources that provide legitimacy for their venturing activities. Drawing from our findings, we generate a model of place‐based cultural entrepreneurship and elaborate place as a central resource in cultural entrepreneurship and new venture creation in deprived contexts.

Seeing the Forestandthe Trees: Exploring the Impact of Inter- and Intra-Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Embeddedness on New Venture Creation

Seeing the Forest<i>and</i>the Trees: Exploring the Impact of Inter- and Intra-Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Embeddedness on New Venture Creation