Pub Date : 2025-07-01Epub Date: 2025-04-26DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106505
April J. Spivack , Tom Lahti , Thommie Burström , Joakim Wincent
Drawing on a qualitative case study of hype around an entrepreneurial venture, we develop a three-phase process model detailing how firm-level hype influences volatility in perceived legitimacy. We detail how hype over a new venture's practices, including coupling and decoupling, may boost legitimacy in the short term, but may also lead to long-term risks of accelerated legitimacy loss. Positively, hype amplifies excitement over new business models that may use decoupling to solve existing problems in new ways, thereby rapidly inflating perceived legitimacy. Negatively, hype triggers moral questioning, whistleblowing, and moral panicking over decoupled practices that contradict core institutional logics, thereby accelerating perceived legitimacy loss. We highlight the dynamism and intensity of hype's influence on perceived legitimacy and question the viability of decoupling as a long-term strategy for new ventures in contexts of institutional pluralism.
{"title":"Legitimacy perceptions amid institutional pluralism: How hype over decoupled practices influences entrepreneurial ventures","authors":"April J. Spivack , Tom Lahti , Thommie Burström , Joakim Wincent","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106505","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106505","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing on a qualitative case study of hype around an entrepreneurial venture, we develop a three-phase process model detailing how firm-level hype influences volatility in perceived legitimacy. We detail how hype over a new venture's practices, including coupling and decoupling, may boost legitimacy in the short term, but may also lead to long-term risks of accelerated legitimacy loss. Positively, hype amplifies excitement over new business models that may use decoupling to solve existing problems in new ways, thereby rapidly inflating perceived legitimacy. Negatively, hype triggers moral questioning, whistleblowing, and moral panicking over decoupled practices that contradict core institutional logics, thereby accelerating perceived legitimacy loss. We highlight the dynamism and intensity of hype's influence on perceived legitimacy and question the viability of decoupling as a long-term strategy for new ventures in contexts of institutional pluralism.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106505"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143874370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-01Epub Date: 2025-05-20DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106508
Arielle Newman , Alexander Lewis , Ryan Coles
<div><div>This study explores emancipatory entrepreneurship in postcolonial economies where Western bureaucratic and Indigenous traditional systems simultaneously influence entrepreneurial activities. In Kumasi Ghana, the reconstruction of the Kejetia Marketplace was funded by foreign investment and required formal business registration, effectively excluding informal entrepreneurs. Using process tracing, we analyze how informal entrepreneurs leveraged various forms of Indigenous capital and engaged interstitial actors to convert it into actionable capital within the Western system. This process enabled them to overcome their initial exclusion as they built a series of emancipatory structures, culminating in the elimination of the constraint of formalization in the New Kejetia and opening new opportunities for inclusion. Our findings reveal the significance of Indigenous systems in navigating bureaucratic constraints, contributing to the emancipatory entrepreneurship literature by showing how postcolonial contexts both motivate and shape the emancipatory efforts of marginalized entrepreneurs.</div></div><div><h3>Executive summary</h3><div>This study explores emancipatory entrepreneurship in postcolonial economies, contexts where both a Western bureaucratic institutional system and Indigenous traditional institutional system influence entrepreneurial activities. Emancipatory entrepreneurship involves overcoming constraints, often faced by marginalized groups seeking to improve their structural positions. In Kumasi Ghana, our central case study, the reconstruction of the Kejetia Marketplace was funded by foreign investment and required formal business registration. This policy excluded petty traders who lacked formal property rights. Using process tracing, we analyze how these entrepreneurs leveraged various forms of Indigenous capital, and by engaging interstitial actors, transformed it into effective action in the Western system. This process enabled them to overcome their initial exclusion as they built a series of emancipatory structures, culminating in the elimination of the constraint of formalization in the New Kejetia and making new opportunities accessible to petty traders. Our findings reveal the significance of Indigenous systems in navigating bureaucratic constraints, contributing to the emancipatory entrepreneurship literature by showing how postcolonial contexts both motivate and shape the emancipatory efforts of marginalized entrepreneurs. We contribute to emancipatory entrepreneurship literature by highlighting the role of Indigenous perspectives in understanding entrepreneurial agency in postcolonial settings. We offer insights into how Indigenous actors respond to bureaucratic constraints through emancipatory actions, emphasizing community well-being alongside profit and efficiency. Additionally, we position colonial legacies as central to analyzing entrepreneurial activity, providing generalizable insights into the dynamic intera
{"title":"Emancipatory entrepreneurship in postcolonial economies: The clash of institutional systems in the Kejetia marketplace","authors":"Arielle Newman , Alexander Lewis , Ryan Coles","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106508","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106508","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores emancipatory entrepreneurship in postcolonial economies where Western bureaucratic and Indigenous traditional systems simultaneously influence entrepreneurial activities. In Kumasi Ghana, the reconstruction of the Kejetia Marketplace was funded by foreign investment and required formal business registration, effectively excluding informal entrepreneurs. Using process tracing, we analyze how informal entrepreneurs leveraged various forms of Indigenous capital and engaged interstitial actors to convert it into actionable capital within the Western system. This process enabled them to overcome their initial exclusion as they built a series of emancipatory structures, culminating in the elimination of the constraint of formalization in the New Kejetia and opening new opportunities for inclusion. Our findings reveal the significance of Indigenous systems in navigating bureaucratic constraints, contributing to the emancipatory entrepreneurship literature by showing how postcolonial contexts both motivate and shape the emancipatory efforts of marginalized entrepreneurs.</div></div><div><h3>Executive summary</h3><div>This study explores emancipatory entrepreneurship in postcolonial economies, contexts where both a Western bureaucratic institutional system and Indigenous traditional institutional system influence entrepreneurial activities. Emancipatory entrepreneurship involves overcoming constraints, often faced by marginalized groups seeking to improve their structural positions. In Kumasi Ghana, our central case study, the reconstruction of the Kejetia Marketplace was funded by foreign investment and required formal business registration. This policy excluded petty traders who lacked formal property rights. Using process tracing, we analyze how these entrepreneurs leveraged various forms of Indigenous capital, and by engaging interstitial actors, transformed it into effective action in the Western system. This process enabled them to overcome their initial exclusion as they built a series of emancipatory structures, culminating in the elimination of the constraint of formalization in the New Kejetia and making new opportunities accessible to petty traders. Our findings reveal the significance of Indigenous systems in navigating bureaucratic constraints, contributing to the emancipatory entrepreneurship literature by showing how postcolonial contexts both motivate and shape the emancipatory efforts of marginalized entrepreneurs. We contribute to emancipatory entrepreneurship literature by highlighting the role of Indigenous perspectives in understanding entrepreneurial agency in postcolonial settings. We offer insights into how Indigenous actors respond to bureaucratic constraints through emancipatory actions, emphasizing community well-being alongside profit and efficiency. Additionally, we position colonial legacies as central to analyzing entrepreneurial activity, providing generalizable insights into the dynamic intera","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106508"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144098894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-01Epub Date: 2025-04-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106498
Matthew J. Lindquist , Theodor Vladasel
Entrepreneurship is often hailed as a path to upward intergenerational mobility, but few studies have explicitly tested this belief. Drawing on insights from the literature on entrepreneurial heterogeneity and returns, we compare the extent and direction of mobility across generations among Swedish entrepreneurs and employees. We study intergenerational income rank mobility using high-quality lifetime income measures for 215,000 father-son pairs. Entrepreneurs are drawn disproportionately from both poorer and richer families, but the patterns we uncover hold across the entire paternal income distribution. Sons who own incorporated businesses are more upwardly mobile across generations than employees; sons who own unincorporated businesses are more downwardly mobile. Selection on (un)observable traits fully explains incorporated sons’ moves up, but only a small share of unincorporated sons’ moves down. Income underreporting and, crucially, lower returns to human capital explain the remaining downward mobility. Unincorporated ventures appear to use entrepreneurs’ human capital inefficiently.
{"title":"Are entrepreneurs more upwardly mobile?","authors":"Matthew J. Lindquist , Theodor Vladasel","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106498","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106498","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Entrepreneurship is often hailed as a path to upward intergenerational mobility, but few studies have explicitly tested this belief. Drawing on insights from the literature on entrepreneurial heterogeneity and returns, we compare the extent and direction of mobility across generations among Swedish entrepreneurs and employees. We study intergenerational income rank mobility using high-quality lifetime income measures for 215,000 father-son pairs. Entrepreneurs are drawn disproportionately from both poorer and richer families, but the patterns we uncover hold across the entire paternal income distribution. Sons who own incorporated businesses are more upwardly mobile across generations than employees; sons who own unincorporated businesses are more downwardly mobile. Selection on (un)observable traits fully explains incorporated sons’ moves up, but only a small share of unincorporated sons’ moves down. Income underreporting and, crucially, lower returns to human capital explain the remaining downward mobility. Unincorporated ventures appear to use entrepreneurs’ human capital inefficiently.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106498"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143747227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-01Epub Date: 2025-05-31DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106512
Marco van Gelderen
Research on how to slow, halt, and reverse aging processes is making progress. Pharmaceutical, big-tech, and venture capital companies and their owners are making considerable investments in potential (epi)genetic, molecular, cellular, and organ-based interventions and therapies. This essay considers implications for entrepreneurship in the case that such interventions would eventually result in a doubling of the human healthspan. A vastly extended middle age would imply potential changes in opportunities, the future time perspective of entrepreneurs, the pace of time as experienced by entrepreneurs, and the relationship between age and entrepreneurial success. The essay also outlines a range of wider considerations. The final section ties the essay together by discussing how entrepreneurship scholarship can help move the longevity domain forward.
{"title":"Living healthily to 120: Implications for entrepreneurship","authors":"Marco van Gelderen","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106512","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106512","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on how to slow, halt, and reverse aging processes is making progress. Pharmaceutical, big-tech, and venture capital companies and their owners are making considerable investments in potential (<em>epi</em>)genetic, molecular, cellular, and organ-based interventions and therapies. This essay considers implications for entrepreneurship in the case that such interventions would eventually result in a doubling of the human healthspan. A vastly extended middle age would imply potential changes in opportunities, the future time perspective of entrepreneurs, the pace of time as experienced by entrepreneurs, and the relationship between age and entrepreneurial success. The essay also outlines a range of wider considerations. The final section ties the essay together by discussing how entrepreneurship scholarship can help move the longevity domain forward.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106512"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144178014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-01Epub Date: 2025-03-04DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106484
Tatevik Harutyunyan , Bram Timmermans , Lars Frederiksen
Most research on entrepreneurship focuses on entrepreneurs' human and social capital as the drivers of new venture performance. However, less is known about how much the endowments of other strategic human resources, namely board directors, influence new venture performance. To generate new insights on this topic, we theorize and empirically investigate to what extent, and under which conditions, the experience of outside board directors affects new venture growth. Our analysis of Norwegian registry data on 15,594 new ventures does not provide immediate evidence that the presence of outside board directors or their experiences drive new venture growth. However, post hoc analysis suggests that the timing of board entry, combined with industry and directorial experience, plays a significant role in shaping growth outcomes. Additionally, the impact of industrial and directorial experience varies depending on the industry environment.
{"title":"Outside board director experience and the growth of new ventures","authors":"Tatevik Harutyunyan , Bram Timmermans , Lars Frederiksen","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106484","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106484","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Most research on entrepreneurship focuses on entrepreneurs' human and social capital as the drivers of new venture performance. However, less is known about how much the endowments of other strategic human resources, namely board directors, influence new venture performance. To generate new insights on this topic, we theorize and empirically investigate to what extent, and under which conditions, the experience of outside board directors affects new venture growth. Our analysis of Norwegian registry data on 15,594 new ventures does not provide immediate evidence that the presence of outside board directors or their experiences drive new venture growth. However, post hoc analysis suggests that the timing of board entry, combined with industry and directorial experience, plays a significant role in shaping growth outcomes. Additionally, the impact of industrial and directorial experience varies depending on the industry environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 3","pages":"Article 106484"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143580357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-01Epub Date: 2025-02-11DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106482
Vilma Chila , Koen van den Oever
Despite the significant interest in the composition and dynamics of new venture boards, our understanding of when directors exit the boards of new ventures is limited. Drawing on the organizational life cycles framework and resource dependence arguments, we posit that key life cycle events alter a venture's resource needs and dependencies on the board, occasioning director exit. Specifically, we argue that SBIR funding, Venture Capital rounds of funding, and first alliance act as markers of new venture evolution that render existing dependencies obsolete, increasing the likelihood of director exit. Interviews with board members in the semiconductor industry informed and substantiated our theoretical claims. The results show that SBIR funding and subsequent rounds of VC funding are linked to an increased likelihood of director exit, whereas a venture's first alliance is not. The paper sheds light on the interdependencies between the board's life cycle and the life cycle of the new venture.
{"title":"Time to say goodbye? The role of SBIR funding, VC rounds, and initial alliance for director exit in new ventures","authors":"Vilma Chila , Koen van den Oever","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106482","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106482","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the significant interest in the composition and dynamics of new venture boards, our understanding of when directors exit the boards of new ventures is limited. Drawing on the organizational life cycles framework and resource dependence arguments, we posit that key life cycle events alter a venture's resource needs and dependencies on the board, occasioning director exit. Specifically, we argue that SBIR funding, Venture Capital rounds of funding, and first alliance act as markers of new venture evolution that render existing dependencies obsolete, increasing the likelihood of director exit. Interviews with board members in the semiconductor industry informed and substantiated our theoretical claims. The results show that SBIR funding and subsequent rounds of VC funding are linked to an increased likelihood of director exit, whereas a venture's first alliance is not. The paper sheds light on the interdependencies between the board's life cycle and the life cycle of the new venture.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 3","pages":"Article 106482"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143388012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2024-11-29DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106455
R. Daniel Wadhwani , Christina Lubinski
This article extends existing scholarship that views hype primarily as an individual entrepreneurial storytelling strategy for generating excitement about a venture's future. We argue that hype also functions as a cultural marker, distinguishing entrepreneurial modes of communication and behavior from those of traditional corporate culture. By tracing the conceptual history of hype, we demonstrate that the term and its associated practices (a.) originated in early-twentieth-century criminal subcultures to distinguish them from respectable culture, (b.) was subsequently adopted by mid-twentieth-century countercultures to distinguish themselves from mainstream culture, and (c.) ultimately became a marker used by late twentieth-century startup culture to distinguish itself from corporate culture. Understanding these historical roots, we contend, illuminates key characteristics of contemporary Western startup culture: the valorization of revolutionary futures, the celebration of rule-breaking, and the embrace of social deviance as a hallmark of entrepreneurial authenticity. By historicizing hype in this manner, we can better appreciate both its “destructive” and “productive” dimensions and explore alternative modes of communication that are prevalent in other entrepreneurial contexts.
{"title":"Hype: Marker and maker of entrepreneurial culture","authors":"R. Daniel Wadhwani , Christina Lubinski","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106455","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106455","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article extends existing scholarship that views hype primarily as an individual entrepreneurial storytelling strategy for generating excitement about a venture's future. We argue that hype also functions as a cultural marker, distinguishing entrepreneurial modes of communication and behavior from those of traditional corporate culture. By tracing the conceptual history of hype, we demonstrate that the term and its associated practices (a.) originated in early-twentieth-century criminal subcultures to distinguish them from respectable culture, (b.) was subsequently adopted by mid-twentieth-century countercultures to distinguish themselves from mainstream culture, and (c.) ultimately became a marker used by late twentieth-century startup culture to distinguish itself from corporate culture. Understanding these historical roots, we contend, illuminates key characteristics of contemporary Western startup culture: the valorization of revolutionary futures, the celebration of rule-breaking, and the embrace of social deviance as a hallmark of entrepreneurial authenticity. By historicizing hype in this manner, we can better appreciate both its “destructive” and “productive” dimensions and explore alternative modes of communication that are prevalent in other entrepreneurial contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106455"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142744692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2024-12-30DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106468
Corinna Vera Hedwig Schmidt , Patrick Sven Gaßmann , Nele McElvany , Tessa Christina Flatten
<div><div>While external funding is indispensable for most entrepreneurs to scale their ventures, entrepreneurship literature highlights the additional benefits of investors' continued involvement, such as access to their expertise and network. Angel investors, whose primary value-add often emerges through their relationship with the entrepreneurs, generate particularly pronounced benefits. Entrepreneurship research has established that bringing angel investors on board comes at the cost of relinquishing partial equity, which restricts entrepreneurs' control over their ventures; however, the individual-level consequences of funding for entrepreneurs remain largely unexplored. To address this gap, we study how angels' funding and their post-investment involvement in the venture affect entrepreneurs' eudaimonic well-being in the long term. Drawing on self-determination theory, we explore further how the psychological need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness mediates the relationship between angel funding and entrepreneurs' well-being. Self-determination theory states that individuals' verbalized language reflects their needs; accordingly, we use Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) analysis on a unique dataset of almost 125 million words derived from the tweets of 1667 entrepreneurs on X (formerly Twitter). As hypothesized, we find a positive association between angel funding and entrepreneurs' well-being. Autonomy negatively mediates this relationship, while competence and relatedness mediate it positively. We advance research on entrepreneurs' eudaimonic well-being and extend the literature on self-determination theory and individual-level consequences of angel funding.</div></div><div><h3>Executive summary</h3><div>Entrepreneurs often face a difficult trade-off: They must decide whether to accept funding from angel investors or relinquish some control over their venture. While much research centers on the business implications of this trade-off (Davila et al., 2003; Politis, 2008), the personal impact on entrepreneurs' eudaimonic well-being remains underexplored (Collewaert and Sapienza, 2016). This knowledge gap is concerning because entrepreneurs' well-being closely relates to their ventures' performance (Stephan et al., 2020b; Wach et al., 2016).</div><div>Recent calls for research (Stephan et al., 2023) emphasize the need to understand how external factors, like investor involvement, affect entrepreneurs' well-being by influencing the extent to which their psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are satisfied, as outlined by self-determination theory (SDT) (<span><span>Deci and Ryan, 1985</span></span>, 2000). Despite the recognized importance of these factors, the impact of angel investors, who often form close relationships with entrepreneurs and engage deeply in their ventures (Fairchild, 2011; Politis, 2008), has been largely overlooked.</div><div>Our study addresses this gap by examining how angel funding
{"title":"Angel funding and entrepreneurs' well-being: The mediating role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness","authors":"Corinna Vera Hedwig Schmidt , Patrick Sven Gaßmann , Nele McElvany , Tessa Christina Flatten","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106468","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106468","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While external funding is indispensable for most entrepreneurs to scale their ventures, entrepreneurship literature highlights the additional benefits of investors' continued involvement, such as access to their expertise and network. Angel investors, whose primary value-add often emerges through their relationship with the entrepreneurs, generate particularly pronounced benefits. Entrepreneurship research has established that bringing angel investors on board comes at the cost of relinquishing partial equity, which restricts entrepreneurs' control over their ventures; however, the individual-level consequences of funding for entrepreneurs remain largely unexplored. To address this gap, we study how angels' funding and their post-investment involvement in the venture affect entrepreneurs' eudaimonic well-being in the long term. Drawing on self-determination theory, we explore further how the psychological need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness mediates the relationship between angel funding and entrepreneurs' well-being. Self-determination theory states that individuals' verbalized language reflects their needs; accordingly, we use Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) analysis on a unique dataset of almost 125 million words derived from the tweets of 1667 entrepreneurs on X (formerly Twitter). As hypothesized, we find a positive association between angel funding and entrepreneurs' well-being. Autonomy negatively mediates this relationship, while competence and relatedness mediate it positively. We advance research on entrepreneurs' eudaimonic well-being and extend the literature on self-determination theory and individual-level consequences of angel funding.</div></div><div><h3>Executive summary</h3><div>Entrepreneurs often face a difficult trade-off: They must decide whether to accept funding from angel investors or relinquish some control over their venture. While much research centers on the business implications of this trade-off (Davila et al., 2003; Politis, 2008), the personal impact on entrepreneurs' eudaimonic well-being remains underexplored (Collewaert and Sapienza, 2016). This knowledge gap is concerning because entrepreneurs' well-being closely relates to their ventures' performance (Stephan et al., 2020b; Wach et al., 2016).</div><div>Recent calls for research (Stephan et al., 2023) emphasize the need to understand how external factors, like investor involvement, affect entrepreneurs' well-being by influencing the extent to which their psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are satisfied, as outlined by self-determination theory (SDT) (<span><span>Deci and Ryan, 1985</span></span>, 2000). Despite the recognized importance of these factors, the impact of angel investors, who often form close relationships with entrepreneurs and engage deeply in their ventures (Fairchild, 2011; Politis, 2008), has been largely overlooked.</div><div>Our study addresses this gap by examining how angel funding","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106468"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142929207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2025-01-16DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106472
Eva Weissenböck , Nicola Breugst , Anna Brattström
This study offers novel insights into how team structure and flexibility affect pivoting. It details how founding team coordination practices shape individual and collective sensemaking of feedback and efforts to improve a venture idea. Following seven founding teams, we identified how teams with overlapping responsibilities enjoyed the flexibility of both fragmented and holistic sensemaking. This enabled them to pivot when needed but otherwise persevere with their venture idea. In contrast, teams with clear separation of responsibilities engaged in fragmented sensemaking and only persevered with their idea. Our findings advance research on founding team coordination, pivoting, and teams' understanding of their venture ideas.
{"title":"Coordination, sensemaking, and idea work: How founding teams pivot their venture ideas","authors":"Eva Weissenböck , Nicola Breugst , Anna Brattström","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106472","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106472","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study offers novel insights into how team structure and flexibility affect pivoting. It details how founding team coordination practices shape individual and collective sensemaking of feedback and efforts to improve a venture idea. Following seven founding teams, we identified how teams with overlapping responsibilities enjoyed the flexibility of both fragmented and holistic sensemaking. This enabled them to pivot when needed but otherwise persevere with their venture idea. In contrast, teams with clear separation of responsibilities engaged in fragmented sensemaking and only persevered with their idea. Our findings advance research on founding team coordination, pivoting, and teams' understanding of their venture ideas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106472"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142989823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2024-11-28DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106458
Julia M. Kensbock
Whether individuals grew up as first-born or later-born siblings in their families can influence their behavior well into adulthood. This study examines the impact of birth order on networking behavior and entrepreneurial action, integrating birth order theory with psychological threat response theories. It suggests that first-born and later-born entrepreneurs inherently differ in their social responses to the uncertainties and threats of entrepreneurship, which affects how intensively they engage in networking behavior and entrepreneurial action. Three empirical studies involving over 900 entrepreneurs were conducted using between-family analysis. The results indicate that later-borns, overall, exhibit more adaptive behavior than first-borns when navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship: Especially when facing severe threatening obstacles, later-born entrepreneurs tend to intensify their efforts to build, seek, and use external networks, which enables them to engage in more entrepreneurial action. This study offers new insights into the relationship between birth order and entrepreneurship, enhancing our understanding of why some individuals may respond more adaptively to threats, network more intensively, and exploit opportunities more actively than others.
{"title":"Reaching out or going it alone? How birth order shapes networking behavior and entrepreneurial action in the face of obstacles","authors":"Julia M. Kensbock","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106458","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106458","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Whether individuals grew up as first-born or later-born siblings in their families can influence their behavior well into adulthood. This study examines the impact of birth order on networking behavior and entrepreneurial action, integrating birth order theory with psychological threat response theories. It suggests that first-born and later-born entrepreneurs inherently differ in their social responses to the uncertainties and threats of entrepreneurship, which affects how intensively they engage in networking behavior and entrepreneurial action. Three empirical studies involving over 900 entrepreneurs were conducted using between-family analysis. The results indicate that later-borns, overall, exhibit more adaptive behavior than first-borns when navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship: Especially when facing severe threatening obstacles, later-born entrepreneurs tend to intensify their efforts to build, seek, and use external networks, which enables them to engage in more entrepreneurial action. This study offers new insights into the relationship between birth order and entrepreneurship, enhancing our understanding of why some individuals may respond more adaptively to threats, network more intensively, and exploit opportunities more actively than others.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106458"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142744562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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