Knowledge that Transforms

Despite extensive existing research at the individual/organizational level, it is unclear whether guanxi – predominantly conceptualized at the micro level – supports or constrains entrepreneurship at the societal level. Drawing on institutional theory and the recent guanxi literature conceptualizing guanxi as an informal institution, this study examines the effect of guanxi on entrepreneurship at the societal level by arguing that guanxi as an informal institution can both substitute for and compete with formal institutions. Specifically, we argue that guanxi institution facilitates societal-level entrepreneurship up to a point due to its stronger substitution effect for formal institutions than the competing effect. However, beyond that threshold point, guanxi reduces entrepreneurship stocks because the competing effect with formal institutions is stronger than the substitution effect. We also argue that development of formal institutions can attenuate the main inverted-U-shaped effect of guanxi institution on societal-level entrepreneurship. Fixed effects results with provincial-level panel data from China provide strong support for the hypotheses. This study contributes to the literatures on guanxi and on the role of informal institutions in entrepreneurship.

Gender inequality in venture capital remains a persistent systemic issue shaped by interacting socio-institutional, network, and entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) dynamics. This study examines how targeted inclusion interventions interact with structural and network-level dynamics to shape the gender finance gap. Conceptualizing the financial support network (FSN) as a complex adaptive system embedded in an EE, we use agent-based modeling (ABM) to simulate how male-, female-, and mixed-team-founded startups, accelerators, and venture capitalists co-evolve across different levels of ecosystem development and connection regimes. The model examines interventions across three nodes of the financing pipeline: expanding female- and mixed-founded startups at ecosystem entry, implementing positive gender discrimination in accelerator selection, and adopting gender-preferential funds allocation by venture capitalists. We assess how these interventions influence systemic patterns of equity and efficiency under different EE conditions. Results reveal non-linear, context-dependent, and outcome-dependent dynamics. Specifically, in underdeveloped ecosystems, isolated interventions aimed at increasing representation at entry or within accelerators reduce overall investment volume and may temporarily widen the funding gap. By contrast, developed ecosystems absorb such increased representation without major efficiency losses, although representation gains alone do not necessarily translate into more equitable funding outcomes. Conversely, coordinated interventions across multiple stages of the financing pipeline, particularly those combining network access and preferential capital allocation, generate stronger equity gains while maintaining systemic efficiency as ecosystems mature. Overall, these findings conceptualize the gender finance gap as a wicked problem embedded in the adaptive structure of entrepreneurial finance and highlight the importance for systemic, sequenced, and context-sensitive inclusion strategies. JEL Code: L26, J16, D85, G24, C63.

The evidence is mixed regarding family firms focus on green innovation. Using the socioemotional wealth perspective, we argue that family control have two competing logics, stewardship and conservatism, leading to divergent green innovation outcomes. Integrating an institutional contingency perspective, we show that local government environmental attention shapes which logic prevails. Using listed Chinese family firm data, we find that high (low) local environmental attention strengthens (weakens) the relationship between family control and green innovation, particularly when firms are geographically closer to local governments. Interestingly, highly controlled family firms are least environmentally responsive when close to governments with low environmental attention.

A tension exists between the potential entrepreneurial strengths associated with neurodiversity and the systemic barriers neurodiverse individuals face within entrepreneurial ecosystems. Applying Ecological Systems Theory, we analyze how neurodiverse entrepreneurs interact with the nested layers (Micro- to Chrono-system) of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This multi-level perspective reveals how inter-system (mis)alignments create friction, necessitates theorizing neurodiverse ecological niches, and positions neurodiversity as influencing ecosystem co-evolution. We offer a dynamic, interactionist framework that resolves theoretical limitations and provides a foundation for building more inclusive and effective entrepreneurial environments supportive of cognitive diversity.

Angel investment research has grown rapidly; yet, when and under what conditions angel investors recommit remains understudied. Integrating escalation of commitment (EOC) theory with the conflict management styles (CMSs) perspective, we examine these conditions through archival data investigation, a conjoint experiment (2,368 decisions by 148 angel investors), and a field study (214 ventures by 112 angel investors). We show that prior commitment increases angel investors’ reinvestment likelihood, contingent on entrepreneurs’ CMSs. We advance EOC theory by identifying relational boundary conditions and conflict management research by theorizing its moderating role in reinvestment decision-making, revealing escalation as a socially embedded process shaped by investor–entrepreneur interactions.

This study develops an integrated resource orchestration framework to examine how internal resource configurations shape entrepreneurial resilience in new ventures under crisis conditions. Specifically, we focus on bundles of social and technological resource slack and constraints and conceptualize entrepreneurial resilience as comprising two dimensions: stability (severity of loss) and flexibility (time to recovery). We argue that stability is primarily driven by a resource compensation logic, whereas flexibility is driven by a crisis-induced resource reconfiguration logic. Extending resource orchestration theory (ROT), we conceptualize entrepreneurial teams as the central actors of resource orchestration and introduce entrepreneurial team task-related faultlines (ETTF) as a key structural mechanism shaping how effectively resources are mobilized under disruption. Using a sample of 345 Chinese listed new ventures, we find that dual resource slack reduces severity of loss but slows recovery, whereas among constrained bundles, social resource slack combined with technological constraints enables both lower loss and faster recovery. Response surface analyses further show that greater misalignment between social and technological resources increases loss severity but shortens recovery time. In addition, ETTF moderates the effects of resource bundles on resilience outcomes by strengthening both compensatory coordination and reconfiguration capacity. This study advances ROT by showing that internal resource configurations shape entrepreneurial resilience through both bundle composition and misalignment, contingent on team structural conditions.

This study examines hybrid entrepreneurship (HE) in non-Western contexts where informal and non-market institutions are central. Based on 31 case studies of female hybrid entrepreneurs in Ethiopia and 64 in-depth interviews, we conceptualize HE as a relational, co-constructed process shaped by institutional complexity. Women enact HE in liminal spaces sustained through relational practices: reconfiguring boundaries, cultivating ambiguity and gray areas, and maintaining webs of reciprocity. Institutional complexity both enables and constrains HE, underscoring its social embeddedness rather than individual agency. The study advances research on HE, female entrepreneurship, and institutional complexity by foregrounding relational dynamics and gendered experiences.

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) are widely viewed as engines of innovation, economic development, and opportunity, yet prior research offers limited insight into how equity is institutionally produced and sustained, particularly for minority- and women-owned businesses. We introduce institutional space-making—the purposeful construction of governance, relational, and organizational environments that enable equitable participation—as a core institutional mechanism for ecosystem redesign. Drawing on a multi-city case analysis of the Ascend program across 13 U.S. cities, we identify 3 interrelated processes: (a) structural redesign that confronts exclusionary rules, routines, and evaluative logics; (b) relational mobilization through institutional entrepreneurship that assembles cross-sector coalitions to reconfigure resource flows and opportunity structures; and (c) organizational and implementation practices that embed cultural responsiveness through trust-building and adaptive coordination. Findings show that inclusive ecosystems emerge when these processes are jointly enacted, linking ecosystem design with everyday implementation. Our study advances EE theory by specifying how equity is produced through institutional redesign and offers actionable guidance for policymakers and ecosystem builders seeking durable inclusion.

Entrepreneurship research increasingly seeks to explain how systemic change towards gender inclusivity unfolds. Drawing on a critical realist case study, we develop a morphogenetic account of how such change becomes possible within entrepreneurial ecosystems through structural and cultural conditioning , social interaction , and structural and cultural elaboration . We show that bonding and bridging function as collective, agential mechanisms through which women and their allies reflexively contest gendered constraints and mobilise resource gatekeepers, thereby enabling shifts in ecosystem norms and practices over time. By doing so, the study bridges women’s entrepreneurship, ecosystem scholarship, and critical realism through a processual explanation of change.

We investigate how crowds evaluate pitches by entrepreneurs with versus without physical disabilities. Leveraging stereotype subtyping, we argue that entrepreneurs with physical disabilities are evaluated as a distinct subtype, rather than as people with disabilities or as conventional entrepreneurs. We hypothesize that benevolent ableism shapes how this subtype is evaluated, inflating both warmth and competence perceptions. Three experiments support our hypotheses, and key informant conversations with professional investors and entrepreneurs with disabilities corroborate the proposed mechanisms. Our findings contribute to unconventional entrepreneurship research by examining how bias can manifest as patronizing positivity rather than overt negative discrimination.