Too nice, but not too wise: The curvilinear effects of employee orientation on new venture performance

This paper examines the mechanisms of stakeholder management within the context of entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on a primary stakeholder group: employees. We propose a novel curvilinear relationship between employee orientation and new venture performance and further explore the moderating role of entrepreneurial team human capital. Using longitudinal data from the Kauffman Firm Survey, we confirm the presence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between employee orientation and new venture performance. We also find that the human capital of entrepreneurial teams moderates this curvilinear relationship, shifting the optimal point of the curve toward a lower employee orientation. Our study contributes to the literature on the intersection of stakeholder management and entrepreneurship.