Previous research indicates that entrepreneurs are generally high in dispositional optimism—the tendency to expect positive outcomes even when such expectations are not rationally justified. Findings ...of the current study demonstrate a negative relationship between entrepreneurs' optimism and the performance (revenue and employment growth) of their new ventures. Past experience creating ventures and industry dynamism moderated these effects, strengthening the negative relationship between entrepreneurs' optimism and venture performance. These findings illustrate the benefits of applying a social cognitive perspective toward efforts to understand key aspects of the new venture creation and development process.
While creating and running new ventures, entrepreneurs are exposed to conditions known to generate high levels of stress (e.g., rapid change, unpredictable environments, work overload, personal ...responsibility for others). Thus, it has been assumed that they often experience intense stress. A markedly different possibility, however, is suggested by Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) theory. This perspective suggests that persons who are attracted by, selected into, and persist in entrepreneurship may be relatively high in the capacity to tolerate or effectively manage stress. In contrast, persons who are relatively low in this capacity tend to exit from entrepreneurship either voluntarily or involuntarily. As a result, founding entrepreneurs as a group are predicted to experience low rather than high levels of stress while running new ventures. Results supported this reasoning: Founding entrepreneurs reported lower levels of stress when compared to participants in a large national survey of perceived stress. Additional findings indicate that entrepreneurs’ relatively low levels of stress derive, at least in part, from high levels of psychological capital (a combination of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience). Psychological capital was negatively related to stress, and stress, in turn, was negatively related to entrepreneurs’ subjective well-being. Furthermore, and also consistent with ASA theory, the stress-reducing effects of psychological capital were stronger for older than younger entrepreneurs.
This study sheds light on the dark side of entrepreneurship by examining how and under what conditions abusive behavior within new venture teams (NVTs) relates to new venture performance. Using a ...national (USA) random sample of NVTs, we find that the relationship of intrateam abusive behavior (i.e., degree to which NVT members exhibit “hostile” verbal behaviors toward each other) with new venture performance (i.e., sales and employment growth) is mediated by NVT thriving (i.e., level of vitality and learning exhibited within the NVT). Results further demonstrate that perceived competitive intensity of the industry moderates this relationship, with the indirect effect of intrateam abusive behavior on new venture performance (via thriving) being significantly less negative at high, than at low, levels of competitive intensity. We therefore conclude that perceived competitive threats to the survival of startups act to mitigate the otherwise deleterious effects of abusive behavior occurring within NVTs. These results broaden existing knowledge regarding the dark side of entrepreneurship by expanding the conversation on this topic to include the NVT and providing evidence for why some NVTs, but not others, are able to sustain the growth of their firms despite the occurrence of abusive behavior between their members.
As interest in university science commercialization has expanded, researchers have increasingly acknowledged the elemental role of individual academic scientists in associated activities—from ...scientific discovery and invention to licensing and new venture development. In this article, we review recent literature focused on psychological aspects of academic scientists’ involvement in such activities, which has concentrated primarily on topics that we have categorized as human capital, social capital, heterogeneous objectives, and demographic characteristics. In addition, we offer suggestions for potential theoretical and methodological advances to this literature. Finally, we discuss emerging trends in university science commercialization and the important role that individual academic scientists will likely need to play to ensure the future viability of universities’ efforts to both generate and appropriate value from such activities.
This study draws upon affective events theory, research regarding funders' perceptions, and research regarding expectation alignment between products and their presenters to develop and test an ...indirect effects model of crowdfunding resource allocation decisions. To test our hypothesized relationships, we drew upon a sample of 102 participants who each assessed ten different product pitches made by ten different entrepreneurs. Results from the study indicate that perceived product creativity is positively related to crowdfunding performance, both directly and indirectly, via positive affective reactions of prospective funders. Moreover, we find the indirect effect of product creativity is contingent upon the extent to which funders perceive an entrepreneur to be passionate, such that perceived entrepreneurial passion increases the positive nature of the indirect effect. Implications for future theory development, empirical research and implications for practitioners are discussed as well.
•Funders’ perceptions of product creativity and entrepreneurial passion are examined.•Resource allocation decisions are positively influenced by perceived product creativity.•The influence of perceived product creativity is partially mediated by funders’ positive affective reactions.•Perceived product creativity’s indirect influence is heightened when funders perceive the lead entrepreneur as passionate.
Why are some new venture teams (NVTs), but not others, able to effectively cope with the demands of environmental uncertainty? Addressing this question from an intrateam dynamics perspective, we draw ...from the transactional theory of stress to delineate when NVTs’ use of shared coping humor and level of entrepreneurial team-efficacy might conditionally influence the relationship of perceived environmental uncertainty with new venture performance. Results from a national (USA) sample of startups found shared coping humor to positively moderate the relationship of environmental uncertainty with firm performance. Moreover, this moderated relationship was enhanced when entrepreneurial team-efficacy was high.
New Venture Teams Klotz, Anthony C.; Hmieleski, Keith M.; Bradley, Bret H. ...
Journal of management,
01/2014, Letnik:
40, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
As entrepreneurship research has matured, scholars have increasingly recognized that the formation of new ventures is commonly accomplished by teams as opposed to lone entrepreneurs. Over the past ...two decades, the upper echelons perspective has served as the primary lens for investigating new venture team functioning and performance. However, researchers have begun to move beyond the relationship between team characteristics and team outcomes, to explore intermediary mechanisms that more precisely explain how team inputs lead to team effectiveness. In this article we apply an inputs-mediators-outcomes framework, which has served as a foundation for teams research in organizational behavior over the past 50 years, to first organize and review prior work on new venture teams, and then to provide a roadmap for future research. By integrating the upper echelons approach from strategic management with the inputs-mediators-outcomes framework from organizational behavior, we clarify what is known about new venture teams and shed light on important issues that could help the field of entrepreneurship to develop a more comprehensive understanding of why some new venture teams, but not others, achieve successful outcomes.
This study examines a model linking organizational improvisation with new venture performance, via serendipity, at varying levels of resource constraints and informal organizational structure. ...Results from a national sample of 326 startups, based throughout the United States, indicate that the association of improvisation with serendipity is greatest when resource constraints are high, and—in turn—that serendipity is positively related to new venture performance when informal organizational structure is high. These findings highlight novel pathways and contingencies through which improvisation may prove to be a resourceful means for startups to identify new opportunities and gain performance advantages.
•Org. improvisation can be a resourceful means for new ventures to obtain high performance.•Serendipity is a key mechanism through which org. improvisation positively relates to new venture performance.•Resource constraints and informal org. structure enhance the indirect effects of org. improvisation on performance.
This study applied affective events theory (AET) as a framework for understanding the relationship between the shared authentic leadership of new venture top management teams (TMTs) and the ...performance of their firms. Results, based on a national (United States) random sample of new ventures, demonstrated a positive indirect effect of shared authentic leadership behavior on firm performance, an effect that operated through TMTs’ positive affective tone. These findings contribute to entrepreneurship and strategic management literatures by illustrating that AET (a micro-level theory) is a conceptually relevant framework for understanding the impact of TMTs on firm performance (i.e., upper echelons theory and research). With respect to the leadership and organizational behavior literatures, the authors’ results indicate that authentic leadership may be particularly beneficial when shared among team members.
This study examined relationships of the dark triad personality characteristics (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) with entrepreneurial intentions and motives. Results from samples ...of business undergraduates (N = 508) and MBA students (N = 234) found narcissism to be positively related to entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, results from subgroups of business undergraduates and MBA students high in entrepreneurial intentions (i.e., early-stage nascent entrepreneurs) indicated differences in motives for engaging in the startup process. Specifically, we found all facets of the dark triad to be positively associated with unproductive entrepreneurial motives, and observed differential associations of the dark triad characteristics with productive entrepreneurial motives.
