Knowledge that Transforms

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.

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.

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.

Effectuation research posits that effectual networks are composed of self-selecting stakeholders who purchase voice to gain influence in how the effectual process proceeds when they commit to co-create. However, entrepreneurship scholars wrestle with theorizing the social action underlying a theory originally based on the individual decision-making of experts and, specifically, explaining how voice emerges prior to commitment to influence effectual network formation. This study combines the literatures on effectuation and hybrid institutional logics to examine how intermediaries can shape the creation of effectual networks among their members. Through a multiple case study of six makerspaces, the findings reveal how voice emerges and becomes collectivized in the transition from informal collaboration to co-creation. Makerspaces with a high degree of hybrid logics support voice emergence through three social interaction mechanisms: project socializing, market logic embedding, and community logic extending. The study builds a model of effectual network formation via voice emergence moderated by logic hybridity, thereby sharpening the parameters of effectual networks pertaining to voice and co-creation.

Socioemotional wealth (SEW) is a foundational construct in family business research; however, its empirical measurement remains limited by reliance on proxy variables and survey data. This study addresses these challenges by developing a computer-aided text analysis method to measure SEW using the SEWi framework. Our approach enables direct, scalable, and multidimensional assessment of SEW through organizational narratives. We detail the development and validation of the measure, demonstrating its reliability and construct validity. This method expands the methodological toolkit for family business scholars and enhances SEW measurement precision, offering a pragmatic solution for broader, comparative, and longitudinal research.

Although scholars recognize the importance of replication for advancing scientific progress, little is known about the extent to which replication efforts have informed entrepreneurship research. This research brief systematically reviews the body of replication studies in the field, examining which replication designs have been employed and where future efforts could be directed. We find that conceptual extension and empirical generalization replication designs dominate, while checking of analysis and exact replications remain rare. We advocate for greater use of diverse replication designs, highlight promising avenues for future replication efforts, and propose specific practices to strengthen transparency, documentation, and reproducibility.

Accent is a powerful, yet still socially acceptable, basis of discrimination that shapes interpersonal evaluations and access to opportunities, potentially disadvantaging entrepreneurs seeking funding. Bridging role congruity theory with sociolinguistic literature, we hypothesize that entrepreneurs whose regional accents align with the stereotypical entrepreneur are more likely to secure funding. We test this hypothesis in entrepreneurial pitching contexts using an observational study and two pre-registered experiments that manipulate entrepreneurs’ accents in pitch videos through a professional voice actor and AI. Across the UK, Italy, and the United States, the results support our hypothesis, providing robust evidence of accent-based discrimination in entrepreneurial fundraising.