Exploring the entrepreneur’s pivotal role : how creator capital affects organizational outcomes and underpins self-employment persistence

The objective of this dissertation is to determine how an entrepreneurial individual, either alone or as part of a team, contributes to the development and sustainability of a start-up venture. It is well-recognized that the entrepreneur or business owner is a powerful organizational driver, whose ideas and vision affect the start-up through the articulation of strategy, the allocation of resources, and the definition of organizational tasks. Conversely, relatively little empirical evidence directly corroborates business owner characteristics, such as human capital and social capital, as the mainstay of a new venture. Besides, prior research that does focus on the significance of powerful actors within the firm usually adopts a unilateral performance lens. There is much debate on what constitutes an adequate performance measure, especially when it comes to capturing start-up functioning. Consequently, research on start-ups within this strand of literature has been scant, while a clear need exists for other constructs that accurately reflect new venture operation. In order to examine a business owner s human and social capital contributions to start-up development and sustainability, we employ four distinct operationalisations: the start-up s ability to acquire, assimilate and exploit information; its volume of international sales; the strength of the entrepreneur s decision to remain self-employed; and the organization s capacity to generate value added. Flemish start-ups form this study s empirical setting.Our findings endorse specific business owner characteristics as basic levers of start-up development and sustainability. Evidence emerges that human capital mainly affects organizational outcomes if it is grounded in pertinent life-built experiences (start-up, industry, and management experience). This dissertation also shows that the impact of business owner human capital on start-up development and sustainability is context-contingent. Within our research design, the environmental situation of the start-up, the organization s accumulated knowledge base, and the distribution of experience within a founding team all add to the situated relevance of the owner s human capital. Apart from this human capital situatedness , we find proof of a positive impact of human capital relatedness , which determines the unique and inimitable character of the start-up s competitive advantage. From a policy-making perspective, we develop a human and social capital-induced definition of the term open entrepreneur , being a knowledge-driven entrepreneurial individual with an international state of mind that is expected to advance the knowledge-transformation of the Flemish economy. Additionally, evidence is provided on various distinct demographic and career-related obstacles to self-employment longevity, a recurrent stumbling block for the Flemish region. Summarizing our social capital findings, we can only marginally confirm the (often anticipated) direct organizational relevance of owner social capital. One could, therefore, argue that given the limited weight their social capital exerts on start-up development and sustainability, business owners should focus on building other entrepreneurial capital, such as expertise and know-how. However, social capital might function as a critical gateway for scarce, venture-related information which, in turn, could foster the further development of the business owner s human capital. Also, there exists a variety of organizational outcomes outside the scope of this dissertation, for which the business owner s social capital may actually be a robust predictor. Throughout this dissertation, we thus highlight avenues for future research while being mindful of a number of choices that had to be made.status: publishe

Start-up absorptive capacity: Does the owner’s human and social capital matter?

This study investigates how business owner human and social capital affect start-up absorptive capacity under different environmental conditions. From our analysis of a sample of 199 Flemish start-ups, we observe that the owner’s start-up experience and bridging social capital are positively and significantly related to the new venture’s ability to acquire, assimilate and exploit external information. In addition, our findings reveal a positive but decreasing effect of owner specific human capital as a function of environmental turbulence. Furthermore, we find that management experience significantly stimulates start-up absorptive capacity within highly dynamic environments, whereas it hinders it within stable environments. Finally, implications and opportunities for future research are provided.status: publishe

The Role of Entrepreneurship in the Context of Career Trajectories: Moving Back into Wage Employment or into Unemployment?

International audienceThis study investigates patterns of movement from self-employment to wage employment or to unemployment in Belgium. Non-parametric techniques and complimentary log–log analyses are used to determine the significance of stable individual traits (e.g. gender) and of time-dependent characteristics (e.g. family and organizational context, labour market mobility) in moving back to wage employment or to unemployment. Evidence is provided on the possibility of entrepreneurship acting as a ‘steppingstone’ between long-term unemployment and paid work. Yet, significant relationships also emerge between ex-ante time spent in unemployment and the possibility of continued unemployment upon self-employment exit

Start-up export intensity: An empirical investigation of the impact of absorptive capacity and business owner human and social capital

This study investigates the influence of business owner human and social capital on start-up export intensity. In addition, building on the knowledge-based view of the firm, we assume the relationships between owner characteristics and firm export activities to be moderated by the start-up’s absorptive capacity, which designates its ability to acquire, assimilate and exploit new information. Flemish start-ups form this study’s empirical setting. Our results indicate that start-up export intensity is (1) driven by the business owner’s formal education and start-up experience, while (2) weakened by his/her accumulated management experience. Furthermore, we find evidence that start-up absorptive capacity significantly moderates the export impact of the owner’s human capital. Finally, implications and opportunities for future research are suggested.status: publishe

Start-ups’ internationalization: The impact of business owners’ management experience, start-up experience and professional network on export intensity

This study investigates the influence of business owner experience (management/start-up) and professional networking on start-up export intensity. In addition, we assume networking to mediate the experience – export intensity relationship. Flemish start-ups form this study’s empirical setting. Our results indicate that start-up export intensity is directly driven by professional networking. Management experience is a positive antecedent of networking while start-up experience is negatively related to professional networking. All in all, management and start-up experience connect only indirectly to export intensity, fully mediated by networking. Implications and opportunities for future research are suggested.status: publishe

New ventures: how team motivation affects financial outcomes

International audienceThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding the impact of entrepreneurial team composition on new venture performance. Different types of entrepreneurship motivation among founding team members are defined. Using a relatively recent theory as a framework (i.e. self-determination theory), the authors group these motives into two categories: autonomous and controlled motivation. The business impact of the level of each type of motivation within the team, as well as the impact of having team members with different motivational drivers, is examined. New venture performance is modelled in two different ways: financial performance (i.e. return on assets) and innovation performance.The analyses are based on 66 founding teams active in diverse activity sectors. The teams represent a total of 142 business founders. Data was collected through structured interviews, a company questionnaire and a secondary data source (i.e. certified financial statements).The results confirm that the level of autonomous motivation within the team contributes to start-up financial performance, whereas the level of controlled motivation hampers innovation performance. No direct effects of diversity of team member motivation on start-up performance were discovered.This is one of the first papers to study multiple firm performance effects of the composition of entrepreneurial founding teams in terms of motivatio

How entrepreneurs think:Financial decisions for the long or short term

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to suggest that different start-up motivations make entrepreneurs pursue different kinds of new business performance, which in this study are expressed in financial terms (i.e. return on assets). The authors posit that so-called extrinsic motivation urges entrepreneurs to be more short-term oriented, while their intrinsic motivation encourages a longer-term business vision. Additionally, this paper explores how intrinsic and extrinsic entrepreneurship motivations combine and produce financial dilemmas for entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach: The analyses are based on 300 entrepreneurs across diverse industries in Belgium. Data was collected for this study through structured interviews with entrepreneurs combined with a company questionnaire. Financial data was obtained through a government database. Findings: Results confirm that extrinsic entrepreneurship motivation boosts new business short-term financial performance, whereas intrinsic motivation contributes to the firm’s longer-term financial returns. This paper also shows that a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations directs entrepreneurs toward different profitability levels during the organization’s survival and early-establishment phase. Originality/value: Research on entrepreneurship has not yet corroborated that motivations can be personally conflicting, thereby saddling the entrepreneur with dilemmas that may manifest into different levels of business performance.</p

Beware the politically skilled maverick:political skill interacts with maverickism to predict unethical decision-making

PurposeAcross two studies, the current research investigates whether individuals high in maverickism, which incorporates tendencies of creativity, risk-taking, goal-orientation and disruption are likely to make poorer ethical decisions and whether political skill promotes or hinders good ethical judgment.Design/methodology/approachParticipants completed an online questionnaire and an ethical dilemma.FindingsResults with UK (Study 1, N = 300) and Australian workers (Study 2, N = 217) revealed that political skill significantly moderated the maverickism-unethical decision-making relationship. Unethical decision-making was highest for those high in maverickism and political skill.Research limitations/implicationsResults highlight that for individuals high in maverickism, political skill facilitates rather than reduces the breaching of ethical norms.Practical implicationsResults show that while political skill has traditionally been seen as adaptive in organizations, being politically skilled can contribute to engaging in unethical behavior.Originality/valueThis research provides a new and interesting view of how being politically skilled can negatively impact ethical behavior and identifies another individual difference variable, maverickism, which predicts unethical behavior.<br/

Are employer-dismissed older workers adequately compensated? Comparison of Australian and UK age discrimination and dismissal cases

This paper focuses on the legal remedies for age discrimination and dismissal of older workers, identifying the factors that courts and tribunals in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) consider when calculating compensation for two forms of damages: injury to feelings and future losses. A secondary aim is to determine whether these factors adequately consider the unique workforce participation challenges faced by older workers in both countries. Considering the similarities between Australian and UK age discrimination law and given that the latter jurisdiction has had considerably more successful cases than the former, this study adopts a comparative approach and draws on UK cases to inform the development of Australian age discrimination law. Analysis of all successful Australian and a selection of successful UK age discrimination and dismissal cases spanning from 2017 to 2020 suggests that Australian law might be strengthened by: adopting a scale of awards similar to the guidelines established in Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police [2002] EWCA Civ 1871 (‘ Vento’) for recognising and awarding injury to feelings; and by more readily awarding future losses, particularly for claimants who plan to work or who are already working past retirement age