David Bendig , Colin Schulz , Maximilian Möhwald , Patrick Pollok
{"title":"Fear the loss or welcome the gains? How stock options influence CEO risk-taking in corporate cleantech investments","authors":"David Bendig , Colin Schulz , Maximilian Möhwald , Patrick Pollok","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106471","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106471","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study draws on the behavioral agency model to investigate how stock options incentivize CEO risk-taking related to investments in external clean technology (cleantech) ventures. Using longitudinal data from 540 publicly traded firms, we find that current option wealth is negatively associated with corporate cleantech investments while prospective option wealth is positively associated. The results show that founder CEOs, who exhibit different endowment and risk-bearing patterns than hired CEOs, do not perceive cleantech investments as mixed gambles. These findings advance understanding of the interplay between equity-based incentives, CEO characteristics, and incumbents' pursuit of sustainable business practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106471"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142975133","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":"How environmental awareness and concern affect environmental entrepreneurial intent","authors":"Yasmin O. Schwegler , Jeffrey S. Petty","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106470","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106470","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental awareness and concern are implicit in virtually the entire environmental-entrepreneurship literature but typically not explicitly analyzed. To better understand what makes environmental entrepreneurs start their ventures, we need to understand those omnipresent variables. We therefore deconstruct environmental awareness and concern into different aspects, which we manipulate separately in two experimental studies. Our main finding is that key stakeholders' environmental awareness and concern are drivers of environmental entrepreneurship, as they signal to entrepreneurs that stakeholders are ready to support it. We thus identify a way of increasing environmental entrepreneurial intent in order to transform environmental problems into economic opportunities.</div></div><div><h3>Executive summary</h3><div>There is a growing belief among scholars and practitioners that environmental entrepreneurs can play a crucial role in addressing global environmental degradation by developing and providing innovative solutions that lead the way toward a more sustainable business world (Dean and McMullen, 2007; Hockerts and Wüstenhagen, 2010; Johnson and Schaltegger, 2019). A growing literature is investigating the drivers of such entrepreneurship (e.g., Muñoz and Cohen, 2018; Schaltegger, 2002; Shepherd et al., 2013; York et al., 2016), but two drivers — environmental awareness and concern — are typically only implicit in this literature, even though they are underlying most drivers that are investigated explicitly (e.g., Cohen and Winn, 2007; Dean and McMullen, 2007; Markman et al., 2019). Explicitly analyzing the role of environmental awareness and concern is crucial to better understand what makes environmental entrepreneurs start their ventures.</div><div>In this paper, we deconstruct environmental awareness and concern. The experimental method is ideally suited for that aim (Grégoire et al., 2019; Stevenson et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2019), as it allows us to manipulate several forms of awareness and concern in different experimental groups with slightly different pre-tested articles about an environmental problem. We then measure participants' intent to start a venture that addresses that problem, relative to their intent to start similar ventures that do not address the problem. In this way, we test the effect of the following types of environmental awareness and concern on environmental entrepreneurial intent (EEI): entrepreneurs' personal awareness, awareness of a solution to the problem, and awareness of other entrepreneurs addressing the problem; public awareness; entrepreneurs' own concern; public concern; customers' concern; and investors' concern.</div><div>The results indicate that especially customers' and investors' awareness of and concern about environmental problems increase entrepreneurs' intent to start environmental ventures. One explanation is that information about stakeholder concern, customers' willingness to","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106470"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142929205","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}
Corinna Vera Hedwig Schmidt , Patrick Sven Gaßmann , Nele McElvany , Tessa Christina Flatten
{"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":"2024-12-30","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}
Thomas Standaert , Veroniek Collewaert , Tom Vanacker
{"title":"Regulatory institutions and cross-country differences in high-growth entrepreneurship rates: A configurational approach","authors":"Thomas Standaert , Veroniek Collewaert , Tom Vanacker","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106469","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106469","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Regulatory institutions are double-edged swords: stricter regulations can improve entrepreneurs' access to key resources but also constrain their discretion. Past research has focused on the individual and/or independent influence of regulatory institutions, calling for stricter regulation <em>or</em> deregulation. However, institutional theory suggests that the full configuration of regulatory institutions, including their possibly complex interactions, drives the trade-off between resource access and the constraints imposed by resource providers. Using an inductive approach and fsQCA analysis, we aim to better understand how configurations of regulatory institutions and contextual conditions influence high-growth entrepreneurship (HGE) rates across European countries. We find that three distinct configurations explain high country-level HGE rates, which include different regulatory institutions that sometimes work in opposing ways and do not necessarily work universally across contexts. Overall, this study deepens research at the nexus of institutional theory and high-growth entrepreneurship.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106469"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142901954","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}
Jacob A. Waddingham , Jeffrey A. Chandler , Katherine C. Alexander , Sana Zafar , Aaron Anglin
{"title":"The leisure paradox for entrepreneurs: A neo-institutional theory perspective of disclosing leisure activities in crowdfunding pitches","authors":"Jacob A. Waddingham , Jeffrey A. Chandler , Katherine C. Alexander , Sana Zafar , Aaron Anglin","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106467","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106467","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing from neo-institutional theory, we examine how entrepreneurs' disclosure of leisure activities influences the performance of their crowdfunding campaigns. We propose that entrepreneurs' disclosure of leisure activities in their campaigns negatively impacts crowdfunding performance because an institutional norm exists pressuring early-stage entrepreneurs to conform to workaholism. Using a sample of 8511 Kickstarter campaigns and a randomized experiment (<em>n</em> = 436), we find evidence that entrepreneurs who disclose leisure activities are viewed as less workaholic. This, in turn, hurts backers' perceptions of the entrepreneurs' legitimacy, leading to lower crowdfunding performance. We also find women backers are more tolerant of entrepreneurs disclosing their leisure activities than men.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106467"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874742","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":"Atypical entrepreneurs in the venture idea elaboration phase","authors":"Saggi Nevo","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106466","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106466","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><ul><li><span>•</span><span><div>The paper explains why atypical nascent entrepreneurs may not receive the feedback they need for elaborating a venture idea.</div></span></li><li><span>•</span><span><div>The paper shows that a Black/White woman nascent entrepreneur is likely to be sanctioned for entering a profession with which she is seen as incongruent.</div></span></li><li><span>•</span><span><div>Although both are atypical entrepreneurs, nascent Black and White women entrepreneurs are associated with different stereotypes and receive different types of venture-related feedback.</div></span></li><li><span>•</span><span><div>Feedback providers are influenced by ingroup consensus, which can reduce their susceptibility to social stereotypes.</div></span></li></ul></div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 2","pages":"Article 106466"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142825095","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":"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":"2024-11-29","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}
{"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":"2024-11-28","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}
{"title":"Amplifying angels: Evidence from the INVEST program","authors":"Marius Berger , Sandra Gottschalk","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106456","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106456","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper shows that angel investor grants encourage new investors to enter the risk finance market, where they syndicate investments with other investors. We argue that this results from the high cost of information acquisition for new investors. New investors bring additional capital into the market but provide little managerial support. However, as these investors join syndicates, ventures can raise larger financing amounts without compromising managerial support. Taken together, these factors positively affect the performance of entrepreneurial ventures. To test our hypotheses, we consider the case of Germany, where the federal government has introduced an investment grant for angel investors. Combining applicant data from the subsidy program with company and ownership information on the quasi-universe of German companies and a large-scale company-level panel survey covering over 900 angel-financed ventures to empirically assess our hypotheses provides strong support for our predictions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 1","pages":"Article 106456"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142696691","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":"Rethinking entrepreneurship in causally entangled crises: A poly-crisis perspective","authors":"Kim Klyver , Jeffery S. McMullen","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106459","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106459","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over the last few years, the world has witnessed the emergence of a poly-crisis era in which overlapping, causally entangled crises, such as pandemics, war, inflation, natural disasters, etc. converge to challenge assumptions of societal stability upon which much of the field's knowledge base has been developed over the last few decades. In this editorial, we propose a poly-crisis perspective to entrepreneurship and compare it with entrepreneurship under both normal times and a single crisis. In doing so, we highlight the need to reexamine the boundary conditions of our models and to propose some questions, constructs, and methods that deserve increased attention in a world where institutional uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51348,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Venturing","volume":"40 1","pages":"Article 106459"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142696684","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}