International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal最新文献

This study provides new evidence regarding the significance of enrolling in a seed accelerator programme for the performance and prospects of startups. The main novelty and contributions of this work lie in siting the analysis within an emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) and exploring the impact of both the business model and technological levels of new ventures. We tested a set of six hypotheses through empirical analysis of a dataset comprising 735 startups located in Valencia (Spain), a region representing the category of an emerging, medium-sized EE. The findings revealed that within this EE, the advantages of being accelerated tended to diminish and were more marginal than expected. Furthermore, the seed accelerator profile appeared to be of little importance to the prospects and attractiveness of firms to investors. Interestingly, their technological levels were strongly correlated with higher investment but not with a higher number of employees. The expected direct relationship between funding and firm size was also confirmed. A particularly noteworthy finding was the direct relationship between a higher technological level and business-to-business (B2B) models, as well as the opposite relationship for business-to-consumer (B2C) models. These findings have several significant implications for management and policymakers, including the apparent lack of advantages for accelerated firms in closing large investment rounds and the recommendation that incubators prioritise new ventures with high technological capacity and focussing on B2B models. Finally, we highlight the profile of startups with strong prospects for attracting investment and scaling up.

The goal of the present research was to assess the role of FinTech progress in the enhancement of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the country level for ten European countries within four-time intervals of 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2021. Thus, the research plan involved an empirical approach that utilized twenty-five and six variables to create the consolidated EE and FinTech indices, respectively. The results revealed significant positive correlations between FinTech (financial and technological dimensions) and EE in all selected countries, exposing the overall effective role of the FinTech index in the EE framework during 2011–2021. This result supported two research hypotheses, revealing that high values of progress in the financial and technological dimensions of FinTech can enhance the EEs in European countries. Additionally, the results revealed the effective role of the FinTech index in the enhancement of EEs through the three enhancing EE elements of “networks”, “demand”, and “intermediate services”, supporting the third research hypothesis. According to our results, the overall status of FinTech in all European countries accelerated from 2011 to 2021. Additionally, the enhancement of the EE in European countries in recent years has transferred from formal and cultural components to technological networks and services. Hence, the technological dimension of FinTech can be defined as a driving power of economic growth in the study area and should be considered in economic programs and revisions of EE structures.

Venture capital firms play a crucial role in entrepreneurial success. Similarly, due to their experience and expertise, serial entrepreneurs have been shown to have positive but diminishing effects on the firms with which they are involved. However, what is the effect of mixing serial entrepreneurs with venture capitalists? This study advances our knowledge of venture capitalists and serial entrepreneurs by adopting a human capital-driven multi-agency theoretical framework for their interplay on performance and process issues. Counterintuitively, we find that serial entrepreneur involvement correlates with lower IPO values, but consistent with MAT theory, it lengthens the time to IPO.

This study focuses on the prosocial motivation of entrepreneurs and its influence on the creation of a new firm, which is a novel approach with respect to other intrinsic and extrinsic motivations present in the entrepreneurial process that have been extensively studied by the academia. Using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED-Spain), we categoryze the different types of activities that entrepreneurs carry out before registering the firm. We find out that prosocial motivation not only has a direct positive influence on the probability of creating a new firm, but also positively moderates the relationship between undertaken investment activities and the probability of registering the firm. On the contrary, prosocial motivation does not seem to interact with market and resource mobilisation activities, which are inversely related to firm registration. Within the framework of Self-Determination Theory, this paper extends the limited previous research on the role of prosocial motivation in the entrepreneurial process and opens up new lines of future research.

Transforming higher education due to digitalization is a critical challenge to ensure adequate capabilities for a more entrepreneurial economy. Studies about digital competence in higher education focus primarily on students’ digital competence. There are few studies regarding educators’ digital capabilities and students’ learning outcomes. Following the economics of education theories and evidence-based education, this novel research is presented. The study aims to identify how educators’ digital competence impacts education results, measured by students’ learning perception and academic performance. Hypotheses are formulated to find evidence of the return on investment in education relevant to educational policies and higher education management. The goal was to find a model to understand how a specific relevant element of the teaching intervention i.e. the digital capabilities of the educators are reflected in students’ learning outcomes. To that end, this study used a validated tool for digital education assessment (DigCompEdu) to collect data through an online self-administered questionnaire. Correlations and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method were used for the analysis. Higher education is essential for the economy and human capital development; therefore, understanding the relevant factors for teaching efficiency is pertinent. Findings show some relationship between professional commitment, digital teaching skills, and student perception of learning. Nevertheless, the analysis does not find a significant link between educators’ digital competence and academic achievement. It is acknowledged that measurements in education are difficult due to the complexity and multidimensionality of this human process. The study’s contribution is due to its novelty in studying a research gap in digital teaching skills and student outcomes. As a preliminary work, it intends to guide future explorations on education-based learning in universities to identify critical elements of students’ achievements that can guide policymakers and university managers.

Inventive property rights (IPR) issues became very important after the announcement of the metaverse. As in the metaverse, the traditional laws of IPR are applicable, and research on new laws that are dedicated to the metaverse has started. In this research paper, we analyze development in this area. We use the Scopus database to examine how metaverse entrepreneurship and IPR rights have evolved over time. We used different parameters such as collaboration index, citation analysis, and keyword co-occurrences to measure the growth in the respective area. This study’s results support the idea that studies examining this issue have been mushrooming in recent years. In addition, new issues and areas of study on intellectual property rights have emerged due to the analysis.

Social innovation and social enterprise are two major factors in addressing the challenges of population ageing since both are aimed at solving social problems. One of these challenges involves providing quality care services for the elderly. However, few studies have analysed how social enterprises can promote or manage social innovations in this sector. This research therefore studies said relationship, paying particular attention to the for-profit and non-profit nature of social enterprises. Specifically, to test the hypotheses, we use data from a survey of nursing homes in southern Spain, where care services are expanding with the support of welfare state social policies. The results show that non-profit social enterprises tend to develop more social innovations in care services, and that the social mission and participative governance positively influence the implementation of social innovations in this activity sector. Consequently, implications for social policies are suggested to better meet the needs of the elderly.

This study examines the influence of psychological variables on university students' entrepreneurial intention during the current crisis. We argue that individuals use their psychological resources to cope with adverse situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We therefore investigate how the basic psychological needs satisfaction, proactivity and optimism positively influence the intentions of choosing an entrepreneurial career and, on the contrary, how the impact of COVID-19 pandemic perception on the future country's economy can negatively affect the student’s career choice. Methodologically, we used structural equation modelling on a sample of 201 university students in Spain. Our findings support the idea that entrepreneurial intentions are hampered by the perception of COVID-19, but promoted by the basic psychological needs satisfaction, as a motivational factor, when driven by optimism and proactivity. Our research has important implications. From a theoretical point of view, it contributes to the little existing literature on the importance of factors that promote entrepreneurial intention in adverse conditions, demonstrating that students' psychological characteristics can support their performance and, therefore, the economic and social development of the community. From a practical perspective, the present work has important implications for educators and policymakers to introduce programs that encourage entrepreneurship in students by cultivating proactivity and optimism and by offering educational resources that help students reduce perceived risk and increase motivation towards an entrepreneurial career.

This study explores the effect of dispositional optimism bias on entrepreneurial success. By reviewing a mixture of previous studies from different disciplines: psychology, business and economics, we predict that this bias can positively affect entrepreneurial success. Based on a sample of 255 entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and using the LOT-R psychometric test to measure the level of dispositional optimism among entrepreneurs, the effect of this variable on entrepreneurial success was tested, and the results show that this bias positively affects entrepreneurial success. Entrepreneurial success was also measured through three different proxies: the level of entrepreneurs’ satisfaction with what has been achieved from their entrepreneurial projects, the variation in the number of employees, and sales growth and the results were stable. We also find that entrepreneurs’ experience, age, and gender can influence entrepreneurial success. Finally, we should view entrepreneurial success not only as a function of traditional variables but also as a function of psychological biases.

Abstract

Research and policy on sustainable development (SD) and entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE), the most prevalent policy to enhance entrepreneurship, has increased dramatically in the last 20 years; in particular. Yet, as this paper shows, their relationship is unknown to date. We aim to answer if and how entrepreneurial ecosystems foster sustainable development. To this purpose, we develop a framework linking EE and SD integrating existing models and suggestions for further research and policymaking. Theoretically, we draw on three different disciplines and four distinct theories to propose how and why EE impact SD. Methodologically, we suggest system dynamics as the most appropriate method for theoretical modeling and empirical analysis. Policywise, we suggest how and why policy needs a new approach to leverage EE to enhance SD.