The Importance of the Entrepreneur’s Perception of “Success”

Purpose - In spite of the fact that the success of new ventures has been a widely studied topic in the field of entrepreneurship, no consensus on what is understood by the success of a firm can be found in the literature. Thus, the objective of this work is to discover what the entrepreneur really understands by the success of his/her business in its early years. To that end, this study clarifies the principal indicators used by entrepreneurs and analyses the relationship between how entrepreneurs understand the success of their business and the performance of that business. Design/methodology/approach – In a logit regression model, the research data are analyzed, using a sample of 98 entrepreneurs who are the heads of new firms in various sectors of activity. Findings - The study shows that there is a relationship between the way in which the entrepreneur measures how the business is doing and the performance of that business. More specifically, this research reveals that it is not the use of a greater number of indicators to measure the success that identifies the successful newly-created business from the unsuccessful, but the fact that those indicators are from different perspectives. Moreover, the results show that customer-related indicators are more effective than financial indicators to distinguish between successful and unsuccessful organizations. Research limitations/implications – Future research including qualitative interviews will help to further investigate the relationship between the entrepreneur’s perception of success and company performance. Practical implications – As a result of this research, the entrepreneurs can be conscience about how important it is the way they understand “the success” before they constitute their business. The results of this study mean a valuable knowledge to the academics that research in the entrepreneurship field, specifically to those that are focused on the success factors study. Originality/value – This research is pioneering in relating the way that the entrepreneur measures his company’s success and demonstrating its importance.Entrepreneur’s perception of success; new ventures; entrepreneurship.

LA INFLUENCIA DEL PROCESO DE MIGRACIÓN EN LA PERCEPCIÓN DEL RIESGO DE CREAR UNA EMPRESA

Este trabajo analiza la relación entre el haber pasado por un proceso de migración y la percepción de riesgo a la hora de crear una empresa. Con el fin de validar empíricamente las hipótesis que se formulan, se utilizan los datos obtenidos por el proyecto Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) en España durante el año 2009. El análisis de los resultados revela que, con independencia del origen, es menos probable que los inmigrantes perciban la creación de una empresa como una situación arriesgada. Estos datos invitan a reflexionar sobre explicaciones relacionadas con el proceso de selección antes de salir de sus países de origen y el cambio de percepción del riesgo después del proceso migratorio. Así mismo, fruto del análisis de los resultados alcanzados, se plantean implicaciones prácticas significativas de cara a la formulación de estrategias y políticas orientadas a fomentar el emprendimiento en este colectivo

A Call for Novel Research in Entrepreneurship

The article outlines selected issues that are of particular relevance in entrepreneurship research, including comparative research, studies at lower levels of enquiry as well as contextualized enquiries, and where we see special interest from the Journal of Evolutionary Studies in Business when it comes to receiving submissions

Why does she start up? The role of personal values in women's entrepreneurial intentions

This paper aims at shedding light on the role of personal values in the formation of women's entrepreneurial intentions (EIs). This should help explain whether (and why) women interpret the (entrepreneurial) reality around them differently from the way men do. To do so, this paper follows the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), combined with Schwartz's values theory. The model is then tested on a sample of 2923 highly-educated individuals from Spain. The results confirm the importance of value priorities in determining the EI, even after controlling for their motivational antecedents (as the TPB states). They also show that average value priorities are different both between women and men and between high- and low-intention women. The results are compatible with a post-structural feminist perspective. Therefore, the convenience of promoting a more gender-neutral entrepreneurship stereotype is highlighted

La influencia de los estereotipos de género en la orientación emprendedora individual y la intención de emprender

Esta investigación analiza las diferencias de género en las dimensiones de la orientación emprendedora individual (OEI), diferenciando entre aquellos estereotipos asociados con lo masculino y los identificados como andróginos. Además se estudia la relación entre la OEI y la intención de crear una empresa expresada por hombres y mujeres. Basado en una muestra de 1.337 estudiantes de la Universidad de Barcelona, los resultados del análisis de regresión múltiple confirman las hipótesis relativas a la naturaleza masculina de dos de las dimensiones de la OEI, la proactividad y la asunción de riesgos, así como la condición andrógina de la capacidad de innovación. Todas estas tres dimensiones influirán positivamente en la intención emprendedora de los individuos. Una de las principales aportaciones de este estudio es la de poner de relieve la influencia de los estereotipos de género en el grado de propensión de los individuos para desarrollar ciertas dimensiones de su orientación empresarial. Estas conclusiones refuerzan la hipótesis de que la identificación de la figura del empresario con los roles típicamente masculinos podrían ser perjudiciales para la identificación de las mujeres con dicha imagen, lo que interfiere en su evaluación real del emprendimiento como una alternativa profesional

Going it Alone or Working as Part of a Team: The Impact of Human Capital on Entrepreneurial Decision Making

This paper endeavours to measure the effect that human capital has on the decision taken by the entrepreneur to pursue new venture creation either in a lone capacity or collaboratively. Based on a survey of 130 entrepreneurs from 130 new ventures in Canary Island, Spain, this study applies a logit model to investigate the research relationships. The results show that three factors (experience, social perception and extrinsic motivation) are significant in the decision to initiate a new venture either in a lone capacity or as part of a collaborative undertaking. The results indicate that previous experience holds the greatest significance on the decision taken by entrepreneurs to ‘go it alone’, with factors relating to social perception and extrinsic motivation chiefly predicting a decision to work collaboratively. The findings of this study provide new insight and evidence with regard to the factors that influence a key decision in the start-up process: that of continuing in a lone capacity, or proceeding as part of an entrepreneurial team

Going it Alone or Working as Part of a Team: The Impact of Human Capital on Entrepreneurial Decision Making

This paper endeavours to measure the effect that human capital has on the decision taken by the entrepreneur to pursue new venture creation either in a lone capacity or collaboratively. This study applies a logit model to investigate the research relationships. The results show that three factors (experience, social perception and extrinsic motivation) are relevant in the decision to initiate a new venture either in a lone capacity or as part of a collaborative undertaking. The results indicate that previous experience holds the greatest significance on the decision taken by entrepreneurs to ‘go it alone’, with factors relating to social perception and extrinsic motivation chiefly predicting a decision to work collaboratively. The findings of this study provide new insight and evidence with regard to the factors that influence a key decision in the start-up process: that of continuing in a lone capacity, or proceeding as part of an entrepreneurial team.This paper endeavours to measure the effect that human capital has on the decision taken by the entrepreneur to pursue new venture creation either in a lone capacity or collaboratively. This study applies a logit model to investigate the research relationships. The results show that three factors (experience, social perception and extrinsic motivation) are relevant in the decision to initiate a new venture either in a lone capacity or as part of a collaborative undertaking. The results indicate that previous experience holds the greatest significance on the decision taken by entrepreneurs to ‘go it alone’, with factors relating to social perception and extrinsic motivation chiefly predicting a decision to work collaboratively. The findings of this study provide new insight and evidence with regard to the factors that influence a key decision in the start-up process: that of continuing in a lone capacity, or proceeding as part of an entrepreneurial team

The role of androgynous gender stereotypes in entrepreneurship

Numerous studies have addressed the phenomenon of entrepreneurship from a gender perspective. In many of them, the gender perspective consists of analyzing the differences shown in the behavior of entrepreneurs based on their biological sex. This approach has several limitations in interpreting the phenomenon and, moreover, developing supportive policies. This paper addresses entrepreneurship from the perspective of the role orientation associated with gender. Based on a questionnaire to 780 students of business administration, the article follows the BSRI methodology to perform analysis. The results of the study confirm the persistence of gender stereotypes and their effect on the entrepreneurial phenomenon. Male stereotypes persist associated with entrepreneurs. But androgynous stereotypes also emerge. The emergence of this kind of stereotype may imply a change in attitude towards entrepreneurship. Finally, this research examines the influence of gender-role orientation of individuals in their entrepreneurial intention, deriving theoretical and practical implications for promoting female entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial dynamics and institutional changes

Contemporary literature has paid considerable attention to the relationships between formal and informal institutions and early stage firms' behaviours in different institutional settings in recent years. Given a constantly changing business environment in which companies are operating, there is a need to continuously study how they deal with new challenges and how they achieve new goals. It is essential for not only nascent but also experienced entrepreneurs to discover new dynamics in order to stay at a competitive level. This special issue of Journal of Evolutionary Studies in Business aims to explore the role of dynamics that interact with institutional changes in surviving and growing ventures. We present the nine articles with a variety of studied contexts, which shed some light on how companies or organisations keep up with institutional changes at both macro and micro level, by actively transforming business practices and entrepreneurial processes

The development of sustainable entrepreneurship research field

Sustainable entrepreneurship has received substantial recognition from academics and practitioners in the last decade, with a noticeable and rapidly increases of publications on the topic. Through bibliometric techniques and tools, this study allows mapping the main academic literature on sustainable entrepreneurship and analyzes the most substantial contributions to the advances of research in this field. The chronological analysis of literature from the Web of Science-Social Sciences Citation Index (WoS-SSCI) database until January 2018 provides new insights not previously reviewed, such as the journals, authors and articles more influential so far. As a result, 282 articles were retrieved, which were published in 140 journals and written by 663 authors affiliated to 413 institutions, from 50 countries. The analysis allowed identifying publication evolution over time, and provides clues about the opportunities for future researc