Journal of Business Venturing最新文献

{"title":"I'll prove you wrong! The underdog effect as an antecedent to entrepreneurial action and venture persistence","authors":"Timothy L. Michaelis , April J. Spivack , Nicholas A. Smith , Jeffrey M. Pollack , Jon C. Carr , Alexander McKelvie","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106581","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106581","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We highlight the role that psychological reactance via the underdog effect (i.e., the need to prove others wrong) plays in eliciting direct and indirect entrepreneurial action. Drawing on psychological reactance theory (PRT), we examine how negative socio-emotional stimuli can result in a strong individual motivation for entrepreneurs to persist with their ventures. Further, we highlight entrepreneurial hustle (direct action), entrepreneurship-related media engagement (indirect action), and obsessive thinking (indirect action) as mediating mechanisms linking the underdog effect to venture persistence. We test our theory-driven model across three studies. Findings from two quasi-experiments (Study 1, <em>N</em> = 424; Study 2, <em>N</em> = 579) which include 15 post-hoc interviews with entrepreneurs as part of Study 2, as well as a time-lagged mediation model (Study 3, <em>N</em> = 417), provide strong evidence consistent with the inference that venture persistence is closely linked to the underdog effect. We discuss multiple theoretical and practical implications that our work illustrates, and we offer numerous future research directions.</div></div><div><h3>Executive summary</h3><div>Persistence is widely recognized as an essential quality for entrepreneurs to have, yet existing research primarily focuses on positive motivators such as passion, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurs' identity. Far less attention has been directed to how negative socio-emotional experiences, like doubt or discouragement, can also fuel entrepreneurial persistence. We add to our understanding of entrepreneurial persistence by elaborating on and testing theory related to underdog entrepreneurs. Specifically, we address the cognitive and self-regulatory aspects of entrepreneurs' motivation from seemingly disempowering external forces, and we explore how entrepreneurs' responses to such negative feedback can drive sustained action.</div><div>Across three empirical studies and 15 interviews of entrepreneurs, we apply Psychological Reactance Theory (PRT) to explain how individuals are motivated to restore their freedom to act when they feel that their desired behavior is threatened (e.g., doubts of being a successful entrepreneur). We find strong support for our theory-driven model, showing that negative stakeholder feedback can elicit an “underdog effect,” motivating entrepreneurs to prove others wrong and ultimately leading to sustained entrepreneurial action (i.e., venture persistence). We find that this motivational process is influenced by the perceived credibility of the naysayer, where low perceived credibility relates to even higher levels of one's desire to prove the naysayer wrong. Finally, in testing our model, we show how the underdog effect translates to sustained action through the conceptual mediators of direct and indirect entrepreneurial action. Here, we highlight entrepreneurial hustle as a proxy of direct entrepreneurial action, and entrepreneursh","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 3","pages":"Article 106581"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146134333","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":"Debiasing entrepreneurial careers: A field experiment on female role model effects on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and early-stage career choices","authors":"Laura Bechthold ,&nbsp;Laura Rosendahl Huber ,&nbsp;Kimberly A. Eddleston","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106582","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106582","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women remain underrepresented not only as founders but also as employees – or “joiners” – in young and small firms, limiting their exposure to entrepreneurial environments that often serve as critical pathways to venture creation. To address this gap, we investigate whether introducing female entrepreneur role models in educational settings can shape young women's entrepreneurial self-efficacy and early career choices. Drawing on role congruity theory and social cognitive career theory (SCCT), we conducted a field experiment involving over 430 university students and 98 early-stage entrepreneurs. Using a pre-test/post-test design and longitudinal tracking of early career choices, we explore the causal effects of exogenously assigned female role models on students' decisions to join a young or small firm. We find that exposure to social interactions with female entrepreneurs significantly boosts female students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy. More importantly, women who were paired with a female entrepreneur were over 10% more likely to join a young firm after graduation compared to those assigned to a male entrepreneur. Mediation analysis confirms that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is a key mechanism linking exposure to same-sex role models with women's decision to join a young firm. These findings highlight the potential of targeted role model interventions to reduce gender disparities in entrepreneurial entry pathways and expand the diversity of entrepreneurial ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 3","pages":"Article 106582"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146146567","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":"Scale, scope, speed, and customization (pick two): Resourcing drives trade-offs in local compassion venturing effectiveness","authors":"Stella Seyb ,&nbsp;Trenton A. Williams ,&nbsp;Dean A. Shepherd","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106580","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106580","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Adverse events such as natural disasters create a sudden need for resource-intensive entrepreneurial action to alleviate suffering. Because individuals in the affected region have first-hand knowledge of their community’s needs and capabilities, they are potentially well-placed to develop effective solutions. However, it is challenging for locals to mobilize resources in the aftermath of an adverse event because the event itself abruptly depletes resources in the focal community. Building on previous work explaining why some individuals respond entrepreneurially in the face of an adverse event, we focus on the post-launch phase of venturing to theorize about how locals’ heterogenous resourcing approaches influence the effectiveness of their new ventures. Our resourcing framework of local compassion venturing effectiveness outlines four pathways through which locals navigate the conditions imposed by the adverse event to develop effective entrepreneurial responses. We offer four propositions explaining how locals’ varying perspectives on resourcing lead them to engage in resource acquisition and deployment in ways that produce different tradeoffs between the four formative dimensions of response effectiveness (scale, scope, speed, and customization). By explaining these tradeoffs, our theorizing contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by providing new insights into why and how compassion ventures differ in effectiveness and highlighting situations in which the aggregate effectiveness of individual ventures may not accurately reflect the community-level impact of compassion venturing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 3","pages":"Article 106580"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146190154","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 power of consumer solidarity framing in scaling up social impact","authors":"Yuliya Snihur ,&nbsp;Clarence Bluntz ,&nbsp;Nancy Bocken","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106579","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106579","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study how a French social venture helped scale up social impact by selling fair-priced milk. Besides market success, the venture became a symbol of fair pricing for farmers, influencing public discourse and inspiring new laws. We develop a process model where energized consumer solidarity framing serves as a catalyst for mobilizing ecosystem actors, leading to the widespread adoption of the venture's solution to an economic and social crisis. This distributed process of scaling up social impact unfolds outside the venture's direct control, relying on community enactment as well as engagement and energizing from the media, incumbent retailers and competitors, as well as politicians. We contribute to research on scaling up social impact by explaining how and why entrepreneurial framing can mobilize diverse ecosystem actors. We also advance entrepreneurial framing research by offering a social-emotional explanation of how framing can enable change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 3","pages":"Article 106579"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146014259","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":"Momentum through a mantra: How a new architect legitimizes a nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem","authors":"Brian J. Bergman Jr. ,&nbsp;Jeffery S. McMullen","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106577","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106577","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite widespread interest in entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), little is known about how particular actors effectively legitimize and lead them. Increasingly, scholars have identified “ecosystem architects” as individuals or organizations intended to achieve these objectives. However, research is silent regarding how a given actor becomes ecosystem architect – how they interpret or enact this role, how others respond to their efforts, and, importantly, how these actions ultimately help or hinder their ability to enhance their EE. To inform these interrelated issues, we conducted an in-depth case study of a nascent EE and a new entrepreneurial support organization (ESO), one of which was founded to serve as its architect and improve its trajectory. Drawing from research on EE emergence and legitimacy, we develop a model of architect-led ecosystem legitimation. Specifically, we detail how the new ESO successfully legitimized the nascent EE and situated itself as its architect. Our analysis reveals two forms of work – “ecosystem legitimacy work” and “architect work” – and shows how these forms interact over time as the aspiring architect evolves and targets different aspects of the ecosystem for different audiences. Further, our analysis shows how preoccupation with one aspect or audience puts pressure on the architect, while oscillating between them can legitimize the ecosystem, cement the architect's role, and generate ecosystem momentum. Ultimately, our study contributes to research on ecosystem architects, EE leadership, EE emergence, and ecosystem identity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 3","pages":"Article 106577"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146032734","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":"Emancipatory entrepreneurship by a stigmatized social group","authors":"Chang Lu ,&nbsp;Rongrong Zhang ,&nbsp;Trish Reay","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106578","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106578","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The entrepreneurship as emancipation (EE) perspective has inspired much research in the field of entrepreneurship. Yet, scholars have paid little attention to how a stigmatized social group collectively engages in emancipatory entrepreneurship. To address this gap, we carried out a qualitative investigation of how First Nations (Indigenous peoples) in Canada founded casinos to emancipate from post-colonialism in the face of racial stigma. Focusing on the interactions between the stigmatized entrepreneur group and audiences, we found that emancipatory entrepreneurship by a stigmatized group entailed waves of contestations between the entrepreneur group and audiences, interspersed with interim settlements and preceded by internal mobilization within the stigmatized group. Our core contribution is to provide a process model of emancipatory entrepreneurship by groups and to advance theory regarding the nature of interactions between emancipating entrepreneurs and external audiences. We also reveal how partial acquiescence to constraining actors may be critical in advancing emancipatory entrepreneurship over time and highlight the importance of managing the interdependence between stigmatized entrepreneurs and stigmatizing audiences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 3","pages":"Article 106578"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145996554","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":"How cross-national border influences of global phenomena render entrepreneurship inherently international","authors":"Stephanie A. Fernhaber ,&nbsp;Christian Schwens","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106560","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106560","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amid accelerating global change, entrepreneurship is increasingly shaped by political, social, and technological shifts that cut across borders. Yet, despite these pressing realities, international entrepreneurship (IE) scholarship has paid limited attention to how such global phenomena impact entrepreneurial actors, behaviors, and circumstances. This suggests a disconnect between the evolving global context and current academic attention to the field. Drawing on our perspective as area editors for IE at the <em>Journal of Business Venturing</em>, we reflect on this gap and the concerns voiced across the scientific community about the field's scope and future. In response, we propose an agenda for future research that treats entrepreneurship as inherently international and, in turn, invites future contributions not only by IE researchers but also from the wider entrepreneurship community.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 2","pages":"Article 106560"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145730953","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":"Hype in entrepreneurial settings","authors":"Raghu Garud ,&nbsp;Nelson Phillips ,&nbsp;Yuliya Snihur ,&nbsp;Llewellyn D.W. Thomas ,&nbsp;Charlene Zietsma","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106559","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106559","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although hype is widely discussed in the popular discourse around entrepreneurship, it has received limited attention in the entrepreneurship literature. In this introduction to the special issue on hype and entrepreneurship, we propose that hype in entrepreneurial settings can be usefully explored by considering the stages of the hype cycle that can unfold in these settings. The first stage is <em>hyping</em>, where entrepreneurs frame ideas, products, business models, and ventures using language designed to set exciting future expectations despite (and even because of) the absence of technical validation or evidence of the economic feasibility of the venture. These efforts can trigger a state of hype, which refers to a rapidly intensifying collective vision of the future across audiences leading to an <em>upswing</em>. During the upswing, unrealistic expectations emerge, which, if left unmet, can lead to a <em>downswing</em> when there is a reversal of momentum and even the stigmatization of the hyped assets. Yet, there is always the possibility of a <em>revival</em> of entrepreneurial efforts around what had been hyped but became stigmatized. Noting that not all entrepreneurial phenomena necessarily traverse all stages of the cycle, we discuss some of the triggers and contingencies that can lead to shifts across the different stages of the hype cycle. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities that these stages offer entrepreneurs to the extent they unfold within and across fields. We then introduce the papers that comprise the special issue and conclude with suggestions for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 2","pages":"Article 106559"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145554110","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 strong ties to no ties: Configurations for first-customer acquisition in tech startups","authors":"Lien Denoo ,&nbsp;Pek Hooi Soh ,&nbsp;Bart Clarysse","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106570","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106570","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Attracting customers is one of the most important milestones for technology ventures. Ties are generally considered as beneficial when attracting start-up resources, such as first customers, because they can mitigate information asymmetry to overcome liabilities of newness and smallness. Despite this, when and how entrepreneurs use different network approaches to attract their ventures' first paying customers remains understudied. We rely on the concept of tie strength to distinguish between ventures acquiring customers via pre-existing strong ties, weak ties, or no ties (i.e., through market-based mechanisms). Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis on 72 entrepreneurs from 72 Flemish technology ventures, complemented by extensive qualitative data, we identify distinct, equifinal configurations of founder, firm, and environmental attributes that are associated with acquiring customers through strong, weak, or no ties. Our post-hoc performance analyses further reveal performance differences: while attracting customers through no ties is associated with higher revenues, only using strong ties to attract first paying customers is associated with higher survival at scale. Our findings have important practical implications for entrepreneurs and technology commercialization policies. Overall, our study contributes a network-based perspective to customer acquisition to the literatures on entrepreneurial resource acquisition, entrepreneurial marketing and technology entrepreneurship.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 2","pages":"Article 106570"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884146","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 dynamics of narcissism in founding teams: Implications for co-founder turnover and venture growth","authors":"Ulrich Lang ,&nbsp;Victoria Berg ,&nbsp;Jannis von Nitzsch ,&nbsp;Andreas Engelen","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106569","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106569","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing on person–organization (PO) fit theory, we examine how different configurations of the personality trait narcissism within founding teams influence co-founder turnover and venture growth. We theorize that high mean levels of narcissism in founding teams reduce “supplementary fit,” heightening the likelihood of co-founder turnover and, in turn, undermining venture growth. In contrast, greater diversity in narcissism can foster “complementary fit,” especially through improved role and task allocations between narcissistic and less narcissistic co-founders, buffering the negative effects of high mean narcissism. To test our model, we utilize a unique longitudinal dataset of 911 U.S. tech-based ventures founded in 2010, which combines a LinkedIn-based measure of founder narcissism with detailed founding team and venture data. Our findings support our proposed <em>founder-narcissism-configuration model</em>, revealing that the mean level of narcissism and narcissism diversity jointly shape co-founder turnover and ultimately venture growth. This study advances research on narcissism in entrepreneurship, team-level narcissism, and PO fit theory.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"41 2","pages":"Article 106569"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840752","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}