Knowledge that Transforms

Whereas much research has focused on the predictors of entrepreneurial behavior during adulthood, we know little about how preadulthood experiences influence entrepreneurial behavior later in life. Grounded in imprinting theory, this study examines whether introducing economics classes in school enhances students’ entrepreneurial behavior in adulthood. Using a difference-in-differences approach exploiting curriculum reforms in Germany, we find that participating in economics classes increases students’ later entrepreneurial activities by four percentage points. We also investigate the underlying mechanism and find that the impact on entrepreneurial behavior is driven by individual-centered rather than market-centered economics curricula.

Network agency matters in entrepreneurship. As purposeful agents, entrepreneurs actively interact with their surroundings. However, scholars only have limited and dispersed knowledge about the antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes of entrepreneurs’ network agency. We performed an integrative review of network agency in entrepreneurship to provide a much-needed synthesis of the fragmented insights into this topic. By moving away from a deterministic approach in which social structures shape entrepreneurs’ destinies and toward an agentic approach in which social networks shape entrepreneurs while simultaneously being shaped, managed, and developed by them, we contribute to a refined understanding of social networks.

How new family CEOs use the structural setup they initially find to foster post-succession change in their family firms remains a theoretical and practical puzzle. Building on strategic change and family succession insights, we draw upon 74 interviews from 43 intra-family CEO successions to employ a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. We reveal three change-enabling solutions (authority, empowerment, and alignment) and develop a model of how new family CEOs navigate different structural setups. We add configurational insights to strategic change research in entrepreneurial organizations such as family firms, extend knowledge on new CEO power, and provide contingency factors to the role of new CEO distance.

Is prior failure a burden for entrepreneurs’ subsequent crowdfunding success? Prior research is equivocal with some suggesting failure offers a valuable learning experience, whereas others suggest failure indicates that entrepreneurs lack the competencies to be successful. To provide clarity, we draw on expectancy violations theory and delve into the influence of gender. We find that as the magnitude of failure increases, entrepreneurs’ likelihood of subsequent crowdfunding success decreases. However, this baseline relationship is moderated by the valence crowdfunders have toward entrepreneurs. We find that women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that failed in gender-incongruent categories are more likely to secure subsequent crowdfunding.

This study explores groupthink on the boards of family firms. We conjecture that institutional investors, in the face of principal–principal agency issues, are discouraged by groupthink and consequently invest less in family firms. Appropriate corporate governance in the form of greater board diversity, lower director tenure, busier boards, more financial disclosure, and bigger shareholder voice should help in alleviating these institutional investor concerns. We examine a sample of firms from the S&P 500 and find evidence consistent with these propositions. Also, we provide evidence that board generational heterogeneity in family firms exacerbates groupthink.

We conducted a three-step replication of Davidsson and Honig’s study on the roles of human and social capital in venture creation processes. First, we attempted an exact replication to rule out mistakes and questionable manipulations influencing the original results. Second, we included the initial stage of development as an additional control variable, reflecting on updates suggested in later research. Third, we extended the original analyses using a sample from a different spatiotemporal context, enhancing theoretical generalizability. We largely validate D&H’s findings, highlight the importance of modeling initial entrepreneurial processes, and emphasize the underappreciated complexities and value of replication studies.

Long-term orientation has been proposed as one of the differences between family and nonfamily firms. Family business scholars base this difference theoretically on the incumbent generation’s altruism for the next generation and the intention for intrafamily succession. We point out that the applicable boundaries for these two theoretical bases are limited. We also point out misconceptions regarding what these two theoretical bases imply about the long-term oriented behavior of family businesses and discuss implications for empirical research and theory development.

The present work is a registered report 1 focused on a replication and extension of the findings in Dimov and Shepherd (2005). Our work tests the hypotheses from the original article in an expanded industry context and with an updated sample. The wider sample includes low- and medium-tech industries, and an expanded time frame as opposed to the original sample based on the high-tech wireless industry in a 5-year span. We used the same estimation technique (OLS regression) from the original article but also expand on it by using multivariate regression and seemingly unrelated regression to model multiple outcomes simultaneously as well as negative binomial analyses to accommodate the count nature of outcome variables—initial public offerings as home runs and bankruptcies as strike outs. We also model more fine-grained outcomes of venture capital (VC) investments (underpricing, 180-day return, market value). Our findings support the inference that general human capital has a significant effect on investment success measures. Furthermore, the findings align with predictions about the relation between general and specific human capital in reducing measures of investment failure. Our replication and extension efforts are crucial in advancing the literature with regard to four key points. First, we find that the types of human capital vary in their influence on VC-related outcomes. Second, by examining alternative measures of VC-related outcomes, we illustrate that the effect of human capital on VC outcomes varies depending on the measure of outcome. Third, our results suggest that the relation between human capital and VC-related outcomes varies by industry type and time to exit. Fourth, our reexamine of the findings from Dimov and Shepherd (2005) seems to illustrate support for hypotheses that were unsupported in the original study.

While Black entrepreneurs have historically received less startup funding than White entrepreneurs, the nuances of this relationship have been understudied. We employ role and intersectionality theory to fill this gap by examining how race and associated stereotypes of Black entrepreneurs influence the impact of entrepreneurs’ prior fundraising track record on current fundraising efforts. Using 1,164 hand-coded crowdfunding campaigns and a follow-on experiment, we find that Black entrepreneurs receive less credit for prior success, and are penalized more for prior failure, than White entrepreneurs. Gender moderates this relationship in that Black women see even less benefit from prior success and experience a larger decline in support after failure than Black men.

Entrepreneurial experimentation is the process by which entrepreneurs design, conduct, and interpret tests of cause-and-effect relationships in order to learn and reduce uncertainty, risk, and doubt associated with new venture development. Research suggests entrepreneurial experimentation is essential to the entrepreneurial journey. Yet, this research remains fragmented, resulting in conceptual ambiguity. In this article, we review and synthesize the scholarly literature on entrepreneurial experimentation from 1985 to 2024. In so doing, we synthesize this literature into a definition, conceptual foundations, and an integrative theoretical framework. We conclude with a future research agenda that explores more nuance, contingencies, and sociocultural dynamics.