Journal of Business Venturing最新文献

{"title":"The expectations game: The contingent value of hype as a rhetorical strategy in resource mobilization processes among AI startups","authors":"Judy Rady ,&nbsp;David Townsend ,&nbsp;Rick Hunt ,&nbsp;Joseph Simpson","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106499","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106499","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Technology startups confront a critical dilemma when attempting to use hype to mobilize resources under conditions of extreme uncertainty. While some scholars argue that high levels of hype play a key role in securing resources to fund startup growth, others caution that the excessive use of hype risks triggering investor skepticism, thereby undermining the extent to which investors judge a startup's claims to be plausible. To assess the validity of these competing conceptions, we analyze 302 artificial intelligence startups across 880 financing rounds using a combination of established econometric methods and emerging machine learning techniques. Our findings reveal the presence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between hype and resource mobilization, wherein investor valuations increase with hype up to a critical threshold, beyond which further hype diminishes valuation outcomes. Moreover, our analysis shows that factors enhancing the comprehensibility and credibility of hype partially offset its diminishing returns, flipping high levels of hype from a liability into an asset that improves startup valuations. Our novel theorization reconciles the performative and pejorative views of hype by demonstrating that hype's impact is contingent upon both its magnitude and the factors influencing investor plausibility judgments. In addition to materially enhancing the methodological toolbox used to assess startup rhetoric under uncertainty, our approach also provides important insights for entrepreneurship research attendant to the strategic management of visionary claims, especially when start-ups attempt to balance investor enthusiasm with realistic expectations in emergent technology sectors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106499"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143768191","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}

{"title":"From green to growth: The effect of Go Green on entrepreneurial growth aspirations","authors":"Xiaolong Shui ,&nbsp;Julia Korosteleva ,&nbsp;Bach Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106494","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106494","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the effect of small- and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs') pursuit of <em>Go Green</em> attitudes, characterized by the inclusion of environmental objectives in their strategic planning, on their entrepreneurial growth aspirations (EGAs) through the theory of planned behavior. We theorize that embracing <em>Go Green</em> attitudes can lead to heightened growth intentions; however, the positive relationship between <em>Go Green</em> attitudes and EGAs is weakened in institutional contexts that have more pronounced green subjective norms. Furthermore, the relationship between <em>Go Green</em> attitudes and EGAs is positively mediated by firm innovation, which serves as a behavioral control for SMEs' aspirations to grow their businesses. The empirical results we obtained from investigating a large sample of 16,074 SMEs in 39 economies are consistent with our theorization, and robust against various checks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106494"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143760110","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}

{"title":"Are entrepreneurs more upwardly mobile?","authors":"Matthew J. Lindquist ,&nbsp;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":"2025-04-01","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}

{"title":"Balancing power: The role of independent directors on venture boards","authors":"Yajing Li ,&nbsp;Sam Garg","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106483","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106483","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We develop a novel power-centric model that examines antecedents and boundary conditions for independent directors in venture boards. Using 989 U.S. biotech and pharmaceutical ventures from 2010 to 2020, we find that the structural power gap between inside directors and VC directors is negatively associated with venture board independence. We also find that VC directors' intra-group conflict through tenure variance would weaken the impact of VC directors' power over inside directors on venture board independence, while VC ownership power through investment would strengthen it. These results offer a deeper theoretical understanding of venture boards.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Executive summary&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;The role of independent directors on venture boards—privately owned, professionally funded firms—remains underexplored in academic literature. While independent directors in public firms are primarily tasked with monitoring executives and protecting shareholders, their role in ventures is less defined. In VC-backed ventures, CEOs are often aligned with the firm's goals, and major shareholders have direct representation on the board through venture capitalist (VC) directors. The traditional agency problem, which necessitates independent directors in public firms, is absent in this context. Yet, independent directors make up about 20 % of venture boards, prompting a key question: Why do VC-backed ventures include independent directors?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;This paper develops a power-based theoretical model to explain the inclusion of independent directors on venture boards. Based on organizational power theory, board seats represent structural power, with inside directors (e.g., the CEO and key executives) and VC directors as the dominant groups. These groups often have divergent priorities—VC directors emphasize short-term financial returns, while inside directors focus on long-term growth and innovation. When power is imbalanced, the dominant group resists the addition of independent directors. However, when the power gap between the two groups is smaller, conflict and stalemates become more likely, creating a need for independent directors to mediate and restore board functionality.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The paper also identifies two critical contingencies that shape this dynamic. The first is the intra-group power dynamics among VC directors. High tenure variance within the VC group reduces cohesion and alignment, weakening their collective power. This diminished unity increases the likelihood of independent directors being added to balance competing interests. The second contingency is the external investors' influence: Greater VC investment aligns VC directors more closely with external investors, amplifying their collective power relative to inside directors. This increased power advantage reduces the perceived need for independent directors.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The study's findings, based on an analysis of 989 U.S. biotech and pharmaceutical ventures from 2010 to 2020, p","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106483"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143706187","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}

{"title":"Ethnic fractionalization and informal entrepreneurship: An institutional logics perspective","authors":"Mark R. Mallon,&nbsp;Stav Fainshmidt","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106497","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106497","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research is needed to uncover the sociocultural influences of informal entrepreneurship, or starting a legally unregistered but otherwise legitimate business. Using the institutional logics perspective, we posit that ethnic fractionalization increases the likelihood that entrepreneurs will not register their ventures because it fosters a clan logic and embeddedness in one's ethnic group. Entrepreneurs may not readily access knowledge regarding registration because the ethnic group can provide some of the benefits associated with registration. However, the clan logic is mitigated for entrepreneurs who receive advice from lawyers or businesspeople because these advisors are associated with the state or market logics, respectively, making knowledge of registration more accessible to entrepreneurs. We find support for these arguments using a sample of over 5000 entrepreneurs in 29 countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106497"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143678193","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}

{"title":"The rise and fall of the girlboss: Gender, social expectations and entrepreneurial hype","authors":"Janice Byrne ,&nbsp;Antonio Paco Giuliani","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106486","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106486","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hype is a collective vision and promise of a possible future, around which attention, excitement, and expectations increase over time (Logue &amp; Grimes, 2022). Entrepreneurs employ cultural strategies, using framing to legitimize their endeavors and sustain the surrounding hype. Despite the importance of media in entrepreneurial hype, extant literature has yet to investigate media framing devices and how they shape and inform social expectations in the hype cycle. We also know that framing efforts are shaped by discursive struggles between actors (Kriechbaum et al., 2021) and that under-represented social groups are more constrained by dominant discourses. Yet, extant literature on entrepreneurial hype has thus far undertheorized power and inequality. We focus on one under-represented group - women – as they embody a glaring example of how media influence the social expectations associated with their entrepreneurial endeavors. Specifically, this study investigates how the media employ framing devices to generate social expectations for non-dominant groups (women entrepreneurs in our case) - and shape the hype cycle. To do so, we empirically analyze the evolution of the ‘girlboss’ hype, through a content analysis of 2671 media articles. Our contributions advance studies on entrepreneurial hype by explicating the role of media in the construction of hype. We contend that gender affords a critical power lens in the study of entrepreneurial hype that can be transferred to other contexts mired by inequality. We advance that feminist interrogations of media and entrepreneurship can contribute to understanding and addressing issues beyond gender.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 4","pages":"Article 106486"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143637519","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}

{"title":"Outside board director experience and the growth of new ventures","authors":"Tatevik Harutyunyan ,&nbsp;Bram Timmermans ,&nbsp;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":"2025-03-04","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}

{"title":"Time to say goodbye? The role of SBIR funding, VC rounds, and initial alliance for director exit in new ventures","authors":"Vilma Chila ,&nbsp;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":"2025-02-11","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}

{"title":"Directors in new technology-based ventures: An empirical inquiry","authors":"Sam Garg ,&nbsp;Michael Howard ,&nbsp;Emily Cox Pahnke","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106431","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106431","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;In the emerging literature on venture boards, little research examines the association between different categories of venture directors and strategic firm outcomes. We conduct an empirical inquiry into how founder-directors, venture capitalist investor-directors and corporate venture investor-directors are related to inter-organizational alliances, innovation, and exits. In our longitudinal study based on hand-collected data on 156 medical device ventures in the US, we find that founder-directors are positively associated with patents and negatively associated with supply chain agreements. VC-directors are positively associated with exits but are negatively associated with R&amp;D, supply chain agreements and patents. CVC-directors are negatively associated with patents and first product introductions. Adopting an abductive approach, we suggest potential mechanisms based on interviews with venture directors and CEOs and suggest future directions for venture boards scholarship.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Executive summary&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Scandals at private firms such as Theranos and Uber (when it was private) have highlighted both the influence that boards of directors have on these firms and the relative opacity with which they operate. While there is a considerable literature, both theoretical and empirical, on the boards of public companies, there is a relative paucity of research on governance in private firms. At the same time, the distinctive features of private firm governance may limit the applicability of insights from public boards; one difference is that in venture boards, directors often have significant ownership stakes in the companies as founders and representatives of venture capital firms (VCs) or the investment arms of other corporations (CVCs). As part of this special issue on the boards of private firms, we undertake an empirical investigation of the impact that these types of directors have on a variety of firm outcomes.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We build on research on venture investing which hints at, but does not disentangle, the distinct impact of investors that have board seats versus investors that do not. Our analyses explores the impact that three types of venture directors- Founder-directors, VC-directors and CVC directors- have on strategic firm outcomes they are likely to influence in our context: inter-organizational ties, innovation and exit events.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We conduct our study within a sector of the US medical device industry, where both venture-directors and venture-investors are prevalent and where previous research indicates they are likely to impact ventures. We take an abductive approach to analyze hand-collected longitudinal data on the directors of ventures and on the firms in this industry between 1997 and 2018. Overall, the results suggest that different types of directors can be significantly associated with ventures strategic outcomes, with each type of director bringing their unique focus and expertise to the table. ","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106431"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142989755","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}

{"title":"Coordination, sensemaking, and idea work: How founding teams pivot their venture ideas","authors":"Eva Weissenböck ,&nbsp;Nicola Breugst ,&nbsp;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":"2025-01-16","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}