Prior Entrepreneurial Experience Research Articles

Exploring the Institutional and Personal Determinants of Social Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Cross-Country Analysis

In this dynamic world with complex social, ecological, and economic problems, social entrepreneurship has emerged as a beacon of hope since the beginning of this century. The present study analyzes personal and country-level institutional antecedents of social entrepreneurial intentions (SEI) among business students of universities in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Romania and the USA. Our surveys resulted in a total of 788 valid responses (precisely 148 respondents from the USA, 242 from Romania, 213 from Malaysia, and 185 from Bangladesh). The research findings demonstrate that personal factors such as prior hardship in life and prior entrepreneurial experience are significant predictors of SEI, across the four country samples. From the institutional perspective, perceived social support has a positive influence on SEI in all the country samples except the USA, while entrepreneurial knowledge has a positive influence on SEI in the USA, Malaysia, and Bangladesh samples but not in the Romanian sample. However, the regulatory volatility does not affect SEI in any of the country samples except Bangladesh, where it has a positive impact.

Neo‐Endogenous Local Development, Tourism, and International Immigration in El Hierro, Spain

AbstractThis article studies the role of international immigrants on enhancing economic and social diversity in El Hierro, potentially attracting more people, investment, and valorising local communities. It emphasizes the key characteristics of immigrants´ entrepreneurs, including their diverse backgrounds as lifestyle/labour immigrants, competence in languages, typically low initial capitalization and often lack of prior entrepreneurial experience. Despite initial limited professionalization, these entrepreneurs introduce innovations in services and products and cultivate social capital within the local community, particularly among other foreign‐born immigrants, and through transnational networks. This social capital is built upon personal relationships and mutual trust, promoting horizontal integration among businesses. These factors contribute to making the island a prime example of neo‐endogenous development in left‐behind areas. Yet, a high dependence on personal networks and local economic assets may affect negatively local development which needs more formalized and institutionalized support to create business environments for collaboration among stakeholders.

Learning goal orientation, social capital, and entrepreneurial intentions: A multigroup analysis within entrepreneurship programs

Drawing upon the social cognitive theory, this study investigates the relationships between learning goal orientation, social capital, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intentions. Survey data were collected among 289 Dutch students who enrolled in an entrepreneurship program. Students completed a questionnaire before and after the program. The results demonstrated that learning goal orientation and student-student relationships positively related to students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, which, in turn, fostered their entrepreneurial intentions. However, the impact of teacher-student relationships on entrepreneurial self-efficacy was not significant over and above the impact of student-student relationships. Multigroup analysis showed that students with prior entrepreneurial experience indicated higher learning goal orientation and entrepreneurial intentions, as compared with their counterparts without prior experience. The impact of learning goal orientation on entrepreneurial self-efficacy was significant for students with prior experience, while this relationship remains non-significant for those without prior experience. These findings contribute to continually improving teaching effectiveness of entrepreneurship programs.

How entrepreneurs engage with feedback during value creation – a taxonomy

PurposeFocused feedback, such as mentoring and coaching, is a crucial ingredient for generating the intellectual capital needed for successful venture creation and has become a structural resource offered to entrepreneurs in business incubator/accelerator programs. Yet so far, literature has remained silent on the way that entrepreneurs differ in their engagement with focused feedback in such programs. This study poses the question of how focused feedback engagement shapes cognitive development during value creation (i.e. business opportunity development), aimed at the construction of a taxonomy of such feedback engagement.Design/methodology/approachFocusing on cognitive learning outcomes, we carried out a qualitative analysis using NVivo to perform content analysis on the logbooks of 70 entrepreneurs engaged in business opportunity development in a highly regarded accelerator program.FindingsResults show that engagement with focused feedback and its effects relate to the state of tangibility of the entrepreneur’s value offer and to the amount of prior entrepreneurial experience. We also develop a promising taxonomy to classify entrepreneurs on their learning needs and outcomes (e.g. procedural versus declarative knowledge).Originality/valueThis study brings together types of human learning (types of knowledge acquired) with types of focused feedback. This connection has been speculated to exist in entrepreneurial settings; this study provides strong initial evidence that argues for more explicit consideration in practice. Adding the intellectual capital perspective further enabled this study to better address implications for practice as well as motivate powerful new directions for research.

Fostering secondary students’ entrepreneurial attributes and aspirations through a theory-informed learning management system

Entrepreneurship is crucial for fostering innovation and opportunity in a rapidly evolving global economy. Introducing it in secondary schools is challenging due to potential cognitive overload and the complexity of the skills required. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a Learning Management System (LMS) using Cognitive Load Theory for improving entrepreneurial skills among secondary students in Hong Kong. In the study, 280 students from 16 schools completed the LMS intervention. Through a series of t-tests, ANCOVAs, and multilevel models, we examined the effects of an LMS on students' entrepreneurial attributes and aspirations. The results indicated that the LMS enhances students' perceptions of entrepreneurial concepts. However, the effectiveness of the LMS was influenced by two key factors: the level of student engagement with the system and their previous entrepreneurial experiences. Higher engagement with the LMS and more extensive prior entrepreneurial experiences were found to significantly boost students' entrepreneurial attributes and aspirations. The outcomes indicate that by organizing content to minimize cognitive overload, the LMS facilitated the development of sophisticated cognitive schemas essential for entrepreneurial thinking.

Examining the minimal combined effects of gender and minoritized racial/ethnic identity among academic entrepreneurs

PurposeThis study examined differences related to gender and racial/ethnic identity among academic researchers participating in the National Science Foundation’s “Innovation-Corps” (NSF I-Corps) entrepreneurship training program. Drawing from prior research in the fields of technology entrepreneurship and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, this study addresses the goal of broadening participation in academic entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachUsing ANOVA and MANOVA analyses, we tested for differences by gender and minoritized racial/ethnic identity for four variables considered pertinent to successful program outcomes: (1) prior entrepreneurial experience, (2) perceptions of instructional climate, (3) quality of project team interactions and (4) future entrepreneurial intention. The sample includes faculty (n = 434) and graduate students (n = 406) who completed pre- and post-course surveys related to a seven-week nationwide training program.FindingsThe findings show that group differences based on minoritized racial/ethnic identity compared with majority group identity were largely not evident. Previous research findings were replicated for only one variable, indicating that women report lower amounts of total prior entrepreneurial experience than men, but no gender differences were found for other study variables.Originality/valueOur analyses respond to repeated calls for research in the fields of entrepreneurship and STEM education to simultaneously examine intersecting minoritized and/or under-represented social identities to inform recruitment and retention efforts. The unique and large I-Corps national dataset offered the statistical power to quantitatively test for differences between identity groups. We discuss the implications of the inconsistencies in our analyses with prior findings, such as the need to consider selection bias.

Equity split evolution in entrepreneurial teams: Assessing financial contributions and human capital

ABSTRACT Proper equity splits play a vital role in the success of entrepreneurial teams, yet the literature lacks a comprehensive understanding of their evolving nature. This study addresses this gap by analyzing the dynamic and evolutionary process of equity splits using longitudinal data. Through the development of a game-theory model incorporating human-capital signals, we illuminate the impact of these factors. Utilizing data from the Kauffman Firm Survey and employing fixed- and mixed-effects modeling, we uncover significant findings. Initially, financial contributions shape equity splits, but their influence diminishes as hidden human capital gains prominence. Education attainment and work experience have no direct effect, while prior entrepreneurial experience influences the initial year but not subsequent equity resplitting. Our research offers practical insights for making informed equity-split decisions in the early and later stages of ventures. Nonetheless, it’s important to note some limitations in our research stemming from the lack of information on individual entrepreneurs’ performance within entrepreneurial teams, which could enrich the measurement of hidden human capital.

A Longitudinal Study of Conditional Student Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy

This study explores how students from low-income families with no prior entrepreneurial experience engage in conditional student entrepreneurship (CSE). Longitudinal data from 30 undergraduates across two Nigerian public universities revealed that resource constraints and significant loss events threaten students’ educational pursuits. However, rather than dropping out to pursue unskilled jobs, the students opt for CSE to generate income and persist in their education. Through the findings, a model of CSE for financial stability was developed to shed light on an overlooked phenomenon in emerging economies. The findings contribute to academic, policy, and practical implications.

Who is willing to be rich and king? Founder-CEOs’ IPO and M&A intentions

ABSTRACT Founder-chief executive officers (founder-CEOs) have several reasons for starting businesses but often struggle to pursue shareholder wealth and firm control. By conducting a survey of start-up firms in the manufacturing and information service sectors in Japan, we examine founder-CEOs’ initial public offering (IPO) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) intentions. We propose an analytical approach from the perspective of shareholder wealth and firm control, and estimate the determinants of founder-CEOs’ IPO and M&A intentions. Our findings indicate that start-up firms with innovation resources, including new products and service and intellectual property, are more likely to seek IPOs. In addition, growth-oriented firms and founder-CEOs with prior entrepreneurial experience are more likely to seek IPOs and M&A. Moreover, younger founder-CEOs are more likely to have IPOs and M&A intentions. Furthermore, this study identifies founder-CEOs’ rich and king positions by providing the similarities and differences in the determinants of IPO and M&A intentions.

Perceived Institutional Environment and Entrepreneurial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Risk-Taking Propensity and Moderating Role of Human Capital Factors

With an emphasis on combining individual and environmental factors in entrepreneurship, this study aims to explore the relationship between the perception of the institutional environment, risk-taking propensity, and start-up readiness by drawing on the institutional theory and human capital theory. This study collected data online and finally got 580 respondents aged 18 to 40. Through SmartPLS software, results reveal that perceived regulatory and cognitive environments influence risk-taking propensity, and risk-taking propensity influences start-up readiness. Moreover, prior entrepreneurial experience positively moderates the relationship between risk-taking propensity and start-up readiness. However, we do not find the direct and moderating effects of entrepreneurship education. This study theoretically contributes to institutional theory, human capital theory, and entrepreneurial behavior with a self-developed construct –“start-up readiness.” This study also provides practical implications for educators and policymakers based on the findings. This study was limited to one personality trait and future research could examine other traits. In addition, more future studies can adopt this measurement scale to measure the entrepreneurial behavior of people in different regions and other human capital factors are worth studying in future research.

Mitigating the lack of prior entrepreneurial experience and exposure through entrepreneurship education programs

PurposeTo increase the understanding of how entrepreneurship education impacts entrepreneurial careers, the purpose of the paper is to investigate the role that a venture creation program (VCP) might have in mitigating or surpassing a lack of other antecedents of entrepreneurial careers. In particular, the authors focus on entrepreneurial pedigree and prior entrepreneurial experience.Design/methodology/approachData from graduates of VCPs at three universities in Northern Europe were collected through an online survey. Questions addressed graduate background prior to education, yearly occupational employment subsequent to graduation and graduates' own perceptions of entrepreneurial activity in employment positions. The survey was sent to 1,326 graduates and received 692 responses (52.2% response rate).FindingsThe type of VCP, either independent (Ind-VCP) or corporate venture creation (Corp-VCP), influenced the mitigation of prior entrepreneurial experience. Prior entrepreneurial experience, together with Ind-VCP, made a career as self-employed more likely. However, this was not the case for Corp-VCP in subsequently choosing intrapreneurial careers. Entrepreneurial pedigree had no significant effect on career choice other than for hybrid careers.Research limitations/implicationsEntrepreneurial experience gained from VCPs seems to influence graduates toward future entrepreneurial careers. Evidence supports the conclusion that many VCP graduates who lack prior entrepreneurial experience or entrepreneurial pedigree can develop sufficient entrepreneurial competencies through the program.Originality/valueThis study offers novel evidence that entrepreneurship education can compensate for a lack of prior entrepreneurial experience and exposure for students preparing for entrepreneurial careers.

BUILDING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURIAL SELF-EFFICACY IN AN EMERGING ECONOMY: THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE

With the increasing number of social problems for which governments do not have solutions, especially in emerging economies, there have been ever louder calls for establishing social enterprises that will help address these problems. Social entrepreneurial intention increases when individuals have a high level of social entrepreneurial self-efficacy (SESE). The literature suggests that SESE is domain-specific and can be enhanced only through education and experience related to social entrepreneurship. Building upon the social cognitive theory, this study argues that SESE can be improved through general factors such as education level and entrepreneurial experience. Through an online survey involving 241 general individuals, this study finds support for the social cognitive theory, which states that educational level increases SESE and subsequently increases social entrepreneurial intention. This relationship is substantiated for individuals who have prior entrepreneurial experience but not for individuals with no entrepreneurial experience. The results of this study highlight the importance of education in promoting social entrepreneurial intention. In addition, the curricula at all educational levels should encourage students to gain entrepreneurial experience such as by developing business projects or initiating a business.

There's no going back? The influence of prior entrepreneurial experience timing on voluntary turnover in post‐entrepreneurship wage employment

AbstractDespite the prevalent stereotype that former entrepreneurs are undesirable employees due to a high likelihood of quitting, little research has empirically verified its accuracy. With a growing population of former entrepreneurs in the workforce, it has become more important than ever to understand whether, when, and which former entrepreneurs may or may not be likely to quit their post‐entrepreneurship employment. We used a sample of nationally representative 20‐year data from Australia to examine how timing of prior entrepreneurial experience relative to a focal wage job relates to voluntary turnover via a serial mediation by entrepreneurial intention and turnover intention. Results showed that employees with entrepreneurial experience in their second most recent job spell were more likely to develop entrepreneurial intention and turnover intention in sequence, which, in turn, increased quitting risk relative to employees without entrepreneurial experience in the same job spell. However, we did not find evidence for such differences between employees with and without entrepreneurial experience in their most recent job spell. Moreover, the serial mediation effect holds among men but not women. These findings highlight the important role of timing in the relationship between of entrepreneurial experience and post‐entrepreneurship employment attitude and behavior. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Making sense of identity transitioning within the new venture creation process

PurposeThis study aims to explore how aspiring entrepreneurs navigate between their own individual self-concept and the organisational identity of the new venture during the process of new venture creation.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on three cases of aspiring entrepreneurs within a UK-based university incubator in the process of “becoming” entrepreneurs. Semi-structured interviews and secondary data were collected and analysed using a flexible pattern matching approach.FindingsThe data illustrated parallel identity and sensemaking processes occurring as the aspiring entrepreneurs navigated towards new venture formation. For the organisational identity process, three key stages were found to occur: referent identity labelling, projection and identity reification. Concurrently the sensemaking process made up of creation, interpretation and enactment were seen to enable identity transitioning mechanisms: cue identification, liminal sensegiving and recognition of formal venture boundaries, which led to the organisational identity being formed.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is exploratory in nature thus future research is required to clarify the relationship between identity work practices and the process of creating a new venture (Oliver and Vough, 2020). The paper is limited to successful instances of new venture formation, and though this helped to extricate the identity transitioning stages and mechanisms that have thus far remained implicit within the process of new venture creation, it could be extended to examine entrepreneurs who fail to set up new ventures. This limitation opens avenues for further research on identity formation in failed ventures (Snihur and Clarysse, 2022) and on how entrepreneurs negotiate contested identities (Varlander et al., 2020). Furthermore, entrepreneurs take different pathways to new venture formation (Shepherd et al., 2021) and while this study follows the journey of aspiring entrepreneurs who differed in terms of sector, education and prior entrepreneurial experience (Shane, 2003), future researchers could undertake a more in-depth ethnographic study including the effects of incubator setting and how these can be best supported, as this was outside the original remit of this study. Given the importance of the university incubator (Bergman and McMullen, 2022), its role in the construction of new venture identity is an interesting area for future research.Practical implicationsThis study provides a practical contribution into entrepreneurship curricula and incubator training, emphasising the importance of understanding the relevance of the entrepreneur's self-concept in making sense of future venture identities. Through the findings of this study, the importance of cue identification and how aspiring entrepreneurs rely on these to carve out the identity of their budding venture is demonstrated. Incubator spaces may have a role to play in supporting aspiring entrepreneurs to reflect on and interpret feedback (liminal sensegiving) during the venture creation process. Furthermore, both educators and incubator managers need to be aware of the state of in-between-ness aspiring entrepreneurs will face as they carve out the identity of the budding venture. This study enables educators to advise aspiring entrepreneurs that there will come a point on the entrepreneurial journey when they need to emphasise boundary setting between self and organisation to enable organisational identity to be fostered and venture formation realised. This study advises incubator managers to consider whether support around business registrations and creation of business accounts should be provided earlier in the incubation programme to emphasise boundary setting between self and organisation. There is a fruitful avenue for future research to extend the work in this paper to fully understand how this might be taught and practiced in the classrooms.Originality/valueBy extricating the stages of organisational identity formation, often hidden within the new venture creation process, this study has framed new venture creation as a liminal experience and a visible site of identity work. This study presents a process model of the key identity transitioning stages and mechanisms in new ventures, by illustrating how aspiring entrepreneurs' sensemaking influences identity transitions during the process of venture creation.

SYSTEMIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTENTION MODEL, FAMILY BACKGROUND, AND PRIOR ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE ON STUDENTS’ ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION

Countless businesses had to close permanently, and workers had to be laid off during Covid-19 pandemic, thus the emergence of entrepreneurs is crucial for Indonesia's economic recovery. This study aims to analyze further the extended systemic entrepreneurship intention model and its impact on students in Surabaya. Purposive sampling was used toward 205 students. Results were analyzed using partial least square through SmartPLS. Reciprocal relationships among all the antecedent variables of entrepreneurial intention were found to be positive and significant. Regarding the impact of the antecedent variables of entrepreneurial intention such as perceived convenience, risk tolerance, perceived feasibility and attitude, only perceived feasibility was found to have no effect on entrepreneurial intention. There are no differences in entrepreneurial intention among students with or without entrepreneurial family backgrounds. There are no differences in entrepreneurial intention among students with or without prior entrepreneurial experience. This study provides implication towards students’ entrepreneurial intention during covid-19 pandemic and the robustness of systemic entrepreneurship intention model in predicting it.

The IMPACT of FAMILY SOCIAL CAPITAL on RESOURCE DEPLOYMENT in CHINESE ENTREPRENEURIAL FIRMS

One of the most important determinants of performance for any firm is the unique bundle of resources the company possesses. To date, however, empirical results on whether “familiness” as an element of this resource bundle has a positive or negative impact on firm performance have been mixed (Dyer, 2018; Gottardo & Moisello, 2019; Oswald et al., 2009; Pitchayado et al., 2018). This paper employs structural equation modeling to examine how entrepreneurs in China’s Zhejiang Province include members of their nuclear families, extended kin networks, and professional networks in their top management teams to access different bundles of family and non-family human resources, leading to variance in firm performance results. We find firms that leverage “guanxi” (a particular concept of kin, common in China but not often employed as a construct in western-based research, which encompasses both extended family members and close friends) for industry, technical, or entrepreneurial expertise enjoy certain types of higher performance results. In comparison, firms that leverage nuclear family members for management or marketing expertise achieve certain types of lower performance results. Post-hoc analysis indicates that leveraging guanxi specifically for prior entrepreneurial experience or for technical expertise leads to greater employee growth and higher subjective assessment of success. Conversely, leveraging nuclear family members for management or technical expertise leads to lower levels of these same performance variables. However, only firm size, measured by number of employees at venture founding, is predictive of revenue growth.

How and why accelerators enhance female entrepreneurship

This study was driven by an initial finding that female founders' participation rate in Israeli accelerators is significantly higher (15.3 %) than their participation rate in the Israeli startup sector (7.4 %). Linking accelerators' design to the known barriers to female entrepreneurship, we examined how accelerators may enhance female entrepreneurship by addressing their specific needs. Based on a dataset (N = 779) of structured interviews with startup founders who participated in accelerator programs in Israel during 2011–2019, we present evidence that female founders seek and gain more entrepreneurial knowledge, network building, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy during their participation in accelerators than do male founders. Female founders also seek to increase their legitimacy more than do their male counterparts but did not report making more progress in this aspect. Finally, both the goal of and progress in obtaining access to capital and improving fundraising skills received lower ratings from female founders than from male founders. We further ask whether accelerators are more helpful for women because they are better adapted to the female gender or because they are generally better adapted to founders with those background conditions that often characterize women. We found that the startup's stage of development and the founder's prior entrepreneurial experience mediated most gender differences, supporting the latter possibility. We discuss the implications of our findings for accelerators and other support programs as a means of increasing women's participation rates in innovative entrepreneurship.

Pay attention to me! The role of endorsements, patents, gender and prior experience in startup media attention

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of media attention in the context of early-stage startups. While many studies have examined the implications of media attention on firm outcomes, few have investigated the antecedents especially in the context of early-stage startups who significantly lack organizational legitimacy. This study attempts to answer an important and yet unanswered question: What type of startups are more likely to be covered by the media?Design/methodology/approachUsing Poisson regression, the authors analyze all media articles written about 315 early-stage ventures in the USA.FindingsThe authors found that startups with a prestigious investor or a patent have more media attention and startups with a female founder or prior entrepreneurial experience have less. The results suggest that entrepreneurial signals do play a role in media attention, but that the signal–signaler relationship may be more complicated than that in the investment literature.Practical implicationsEntrepreneurs may benefit from signaling less noisy and unambiguous signals that the media pays more attention to, such as getting an endorsement from reputable third parties early on, which might activate noisy signals.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is to extend the current literature on media attention and entrepreneurship by shedding light on attributes of startups that may help or hurt the volume of media attention in an uncertain and noisy environment.

Impact of personality traits on start-up preparation of Hong Kong youths.

Entrepreneurship is a tool for driving economic and social progress. Especially in Hong Kong, the government has recently taken steps to encourage young people to engage in entrepreneurship. However, Hong Kong youths' entrepreneurial intentions are still low. The objective of this study is to empirically explore the impacts of personality traits on start-up preparation among Hong Kong youths through the constructs of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Through a multi-channel survey, we finally collected 230 valid respondents aged 18 to 40. In addition, this study used SmartPLS software to conduct confirmatory factor analysis for the measurement model as well as path analysis for the structural model. This study's results suggested that creativity, risk-taking propensity, need for achievement, and internal locus of control influence TPB models' components and indirectly influence start-up preparation through TPB models' components. Also, attitude and perceived behavioral control influence intention, and intention influences preparation. Furthermore, prior entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurship education positively influence preparation. In conclusion, this study revealed the mediating effects of TPB components between four personality traits and start-up preparation. Finally, this study had theoretical implications by providing the influence of six personality traits on youths' entrepreneurial intention and preparation through the TPB model and the human capital theory. This study also had practical implications by providing suggestions for the government and higher education institutions.

Entrepreneurial innovativeness: When too little or too much agglomeration hurts

This study sheds light on the relationship between agglomeration, entrepreneurs' internal resources and capabilities, and new ventures' innovativeness using a multilevel framework. We argue that the urban agglomeration of economic agents within a country has an inverted U-shaped relationship with new ventures' innovativeness, suggesting that both insufficient and excessive agglomeration might be detrimental to entrepreneurial innovativeness. Additionally, we perform interactions between individual level factors and urban agglomeration to examine the differential effects of entrepreneurs' internal resources and capabilities. Results confirm our hypothesising that the geographical concentration of economic agents within a country exerts an inverted U-shaped influence on new ventures' innovativeness. Furthermore, we find that entrepreneurs with higher levels of education or prior entrepreneurial experience are better equipped to benefit from agglomeration and to mitigate its negative effects; in contrast, at low levels of agglomeration, entrepreneurs with lower resources exhibit increasing marginal returns. Entrepreneurs in contact with other entrepreneurs are better positioned to deal with agglomeration externalities although their benefits and drawbacks are intensified. Our research contributes to the understanding of agglomeration externalities and entrepreneurial innovativeness, its non-linear dynamics and differential effects.