Entrepreneurial passion diversity in new venture teams: An empirical examination of short- and long-term performance implications

Empirical evidence is mounting that passion is an important part of entrepreneurship, contributing to behavior and outcomes for entrepreneurs, employees, and ventures. Yet knowledge of the performance implications of passion within new venture teams is sorely lacking. We examine how both the average level of entrepreneurial passion and the diversity of passion within new venture teams contributes to venture performance in both the short- and long-term. We test our model with multi-source, multi-wave data collected from 107 new venture teams participating in an accelerator program. Our findings indicate that average team passion is not significantly related to performance, but passion diversity, particularly intensity separation, is negatively related to performance. These findings have important implications for the literature on passion, new venture teams, and group affective diversity.Executive summaryWhile existing studies have substantially improved our understanding of entrepreneurial passion, its sources, and its subsequent impact, insight into this topic remains limited in at least three ways. First, most new ventures are founded and led by teams rather than individuals, yet existing studies predominantly focus on entrepreneurial passion at the individual rather than team level. Second, while there is a prevailing assumption in existing literature that entrepreneurial passion leads to beneficial outcomes consistent with longstanding work in psychology, there is emerging evidence in entrepreneurship that passion may not always be functional and that it can even be dysfunctional. Despite this, we have limited understanding of what types of passion or when or for whom it is dysfunctional. And third, extant work on entrepreneurial passion for individuals and within teams has focused on behavioral or self-report measures of performance (e.g. Cardon and Kirk, 2015; Santos & Cardon, 2019) as well as venture survival, rather than objective team or firm performance in the short- and long-term.In this paper, we study the influence of team passion on new venture team performance. We draw on theory concerning entrepreneurial passion within venture teams (Cardon et al., 2017) that suggests that different aspects of entrepreneurial passion within teams shape team dynamics and venture outcomes. While generally, theories of passion suggest that entrepreneurial passion is positively related to team outcomes due to the positive emotions it brings about, we find that in teams, the relationships are more complex. While the average level of passion among team members is positively related to team performance when considered alone, this effect is not significant when passion diversity is also considered. Diversity of passion among individual team members has a negative relationship with team performance, including diversity in the level of passion team members experience (intensity separation), as well as diversity in the object of their passion (focus variety). These negatively affect team dynamics due to conflicting emotions and identities among team members associated with passion diversity. We examine these relationships on specific team performance outcomes including evaluation of the business idea in the short-term and venture performance five years after their participation in an accelerator.The sample used in this study includes 107 entrepreneurial teams that were part of an accelerator program in the Netherlands. Teams were evaluated on the quality of their business ideas at the end of the accelerator program and the amount of investment the team had received five years later. Our results provide no support for positive effects of average team passion on the quality of the business ideas and confirm the negative effects of passion intensity separation on the quality of the business idea and the negative effects of passion focus variety on later venture performance.This paper makes several contributions. First, we expand the literature on passion in entrepreneurship, specifically adding to our understanding of passion within new venture teams. More specifically, we contribute to the growing body of evidence concerning potential dysfunctions of passion by uncovering a dysfunctional property of team passion diversity that uniquely manifests itself at the team level of analysis. We contribute to the literature on new venture teams by examining team composition in the form of passion diversity, and its relationship with team performance. Finally, our study extends work on the effects of entrepreneurial passion by looking at objective team performance outcomes in both the short- and long-term.For entrepreneurs, our findings confirm the importance of affect and identity for new venture teams, and specifically our findings indicate that there is a dark side to team passion. While passion is generally positioned as a positive phenomenon, we highlight the negative outcomes that passion can have in the team context. Diversity in the amount of passion team members experience can diminish the quality of the business ideas the team is able to generate in the short-term, while diversity in the focus of team members' passion can diminish the firm's long-term performance. For investors and accelerator communities this research validates the importance of considering entrepreneurial team composition and specifically entrepreneurial passion levels and domains when investing in teams or when supporting venture building.     

创业韧性：概念、测量与影响

创业韧性是个人在面对创业逆境、压力和不确定状况时有效运作的能力，是创业成功的关键要素，对于创业理论研究与大众创业实践具有重要的意义和价值。文章梳理了创业韧性、韧性以及创业研究中的相关文献，介绍了创业韧性的概念、测量与维度、影响因素和影响结果，同时从创业韧性量表的开发、创业韧性影响因素的实证研究和创业韧性应对——品味作用的探索等方面对未来研究进行了展望，期望为国内研究提供参考。     

Conceptualizing knowledge-based entrepreneurship networks: perspectives from the literature

Efforts to promote and support knowledge-based entrepreneurship as a vehicle for economic development are increasingly focused on the importance of networks to entrepreneurial success. This article reviews the extant empirical literature and finds a striking consensus among multiple disciplinary perspectives: not only are networks important, network characteristics also mediate resources important to entrepreneurial performance. Unfortunately, current conceptual frameworks do not adequately account for the unique nature of knowledge spillovers and their role in innovation and economic dynamism. The article suggests that scholars embrace the nascent knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship to guide future empirical research on entrepreneurship networks and focus intently on their impact on entrepreneurial performance—and therefore economic growth.     

The community dynamics of entrepreneurship: The birth of the american film industry, 1895–1929

This paper provides insight for practitioners by exploring the collective process of entrepreneurship in the context of the formation of new industries. In contrast to the popular notions of entrepreneurship, with their emphasis on individual traits, we argue that successful entrepreneurship is often not solely the result of solitary individuals acting in isolation. In many respects, entrepreneurs exist as part of larger collectives. First and foremost, there is the population of organizations engaging in activities similar to those of the entrepreneurial firm, which constitute a social system that can affect entrepreneurial success. In addition, there is also a community of populations of organizations characterized by interdependence of outcomes. Individual entrepreneurs may be more successful in the venturing process if they recognize some of the ways in which their success may depend on the actions of entrepreneurs throughout this community. Thus, we urge practitioners and theorists alike to include a community perspective in their approach to entrepreneurship. We also suggest that one way of conceptualizing the community of relevance might be in terms of populations of organizations that constitute the value chain. For example, in the early film industry a simple value chain with three functions—production, distribution, and exhibition—is a convenient heuristic for considering what populations of organizations might be relevant. As we show in our case study of that industry, a community model offers insights into the collective nature of entrepreneurship and the emergence of new industries.Our basic thesis is that the role of entrepreneurship in the creation of new industries can be conceptualized in terms of the dynamics of a community of organizational populations. At least three implications of this view may be important for practitioners. First, the kind of widespread and fundamental economic and social change that has often been linked with entrepreneurship requires a variety of behaviors. While most definitions of entrepreneurship have recognized that entrepreneurship requires the introduction of innovation, they have tended to ignore the importance of behaviors that subsequently support that innovation. To encompass these important behaviors, we believe that a broad definition of entrepreneurial behaviors is justified. To capture this, the framework of entrepreneurial behaviors that we develop includes the variety of behaviors that are important to the success of a collective process of entrepreneurship. We believe that recognition of a variety of different behaviors that are important to the success of the entrepreneurial process can help practicing entrepreneurs to understand more fully the complex dynamics of new industry creation. In terms of our framework, the range of behaviors of potential importance to entrepreneurship includes all of the following: creating a firm that innovates, creating a new business that imitates the practices of others, innovating within an existing business, and imitating by creating change in an existing business. In addition, we recognize that the kinds of innovative change that support entrepreneurship in the context of new industry creation are not narrowly technological; other kinds of product and service changes as well as administrative innovations may also be relevant.Second, entrepreneurship in one part of the community often creates the opportunity for entrepreneurial activity elsewhere in the community. For example, the founding of movie palaces did not begin until feature length films appeared. The challenge for entrepreneurs is to recognize these opportunities and act on them. Third, and related, the long-term success of entrepreneurial behaviors in one population of the community frequently requires that supportive entrepreneurial behaviors occur in other populations in the community. For example, the success of feature length films was hastened by the development of distribution organizations to replace traveling shows and localized markets. Their success was also hastened by the movement away from nickelodeons towards larger, more comfortable exhibition outlets, such as theaters and show palaces. When the interdependence among populations in the community is stated this way, another challenge to entrepreneurs becomes clear: the facilitation and encouragement of supportive behaviors in other populations.We are not the first to propose that the community is important, but we contribute to this idea by showing in a specific context how various types of behaviors interact and ultimately promote entrepreneurship throughout the community. Our contribution for practitioners is twofold. We would urge practitioners to consider the variety of behaviors necessary to create, reinforce, and maintain fundamental and widespread change. Further, we would suggest that practitioners consider how activities in a broad community of organizations can set the stage for entrepreneurship and have a high impact on its ultimate success or failure. Thus, we would suggest that practitioners who seek to innovate should search broadly for opportunities and understand the importance of relations with businesses elsewhere in the community. The success of their entrepreneurial efforts may depend on the occurrence of supportive entrepreneurial changes in those businesses as well. Their ability to do this will be enhanced by a broad understanding of entrepreneurial behaviors and sensitivity to the opportunities that their entrepreneurial behaviors may create for others.     

The Social Entrepreneurship Zone

Social entrepreneurship is still in the developmental stage as a field of inquiry. In this article we introduce the concept of the social entrepreneurship zone. This new construct positions social entrepreneurship relative to the ways organizations plan to implement social change and the degrees to which they apply business practices to do so. Two new categories of organizations, social transformation entrepreneurial ventures and social improvement entrepreneurial ventures, reside in the social entrepreneurship zone. This categorization separates social entrepreneurial ventures into 2 distinct groups with their own unique set of characteristics. The social entrepreneurship zone construct should help researchers and other stakeholders better understand this emerging field so it can be further studied and developed.     

Task Conflict,Narcissism and Entrepreneurial Capability in Teams Planning a Business: A Moderated Moderation Approach to Explaining Business Planning Performance

Drawing on the dynamic self‐regulatory processing model of narcissism, we hypothesize that in teams planning a business, task conflict relates positively to business planning performance and that this link is reinforced by the team's narcissism. By integrating aspects of human capital theory, this brighter side of narcissism is amplified where the narcissism is aligned with entrepreneurial capability and the team members' belief in their entrepreneurial capability. The findings of the moderated moderation analysis examining 66 teams of entrepreneurship students support the study's assumptions and provide meaningful implications for social psychology and personality researchers in entrepreneurship.     

“Right Time,Right Place,and Right People” and Chinese Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Taiwan’s Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

In examining corporate success, many scholars overlook an important contributing factor, namely entrepreneurship. However, Chinese wisdom believes that the “right time, right place, and right people” (Three R’s) are crucial for business success. This study utilizes theories of entrepreneurship from the Austrian School of Economics to reinterpret the three factors for business success. This new interpretation is then applied to explain the success of a famous dumpling house in Taiwan, Din Tai Fung. This study argues that although favorable timing is critical to business success, it requires an entrepreneur to grasp the opportunity when it comes. The seizure of a golden chance requires alertness and preparation. More importantly, this study argues that even during an adverse period, a crisis can be turned into a profit opportunity. Whereas a favorable location is also regarded as a key factor, this study goes beyond sheer spatial dimensions. Location also encompasses culture, social customs, norms and traditional folklores. This paper argues that an entrepreneur transplants culture and social customs from one location to another, thus, gaining pure entrepreneurial profit. Finally, the “right people” in an entrepreneurial sense involves a harmonious social network and good personal relationship (Guanxi). By maintaining a harmonious relationship with staff members, partners, customers, and suppliers, entrepreneurs can “get things done.” This case study provides a new insight into Chinese entrepreneurship in East Asia.     

Demographic diversity for building an effective entrepreneurial team: is it important?

Although traditional entrepreneurship literature often views entrepreneurship as an economic battle of a “lonely hero”, the prevalence of entrepreneurial teams is an emerging economic reality. This study examines the influences of demographic diversity variables in terms of age, gender, and functional background and team process variables in terms of team-level cognitive comprehensiveness and team commitment on entrepreneurial team effectiveness. With field interview data from 174 entrepreneurs representing 79 entrepreneurial teams, this study suggests that demographic diversity is not important for entrepreneurial team effectiveness, whereas the team process variables positively influence team effectiveness. The findings also suggest that the diversity in terms of gender, age and functional background does not contribute to the team-level cognitive comprehensiveness and team commitment. Finally, the study explores implications of the findings for practice and future research.     

Chinese immigrants in network marketing business in Western host country context

Many Chinese immigrants start their entrepreneurship business by joining major network marketing businesses in Western host countries. The willingness of these Chinese immigrants to undertake network marketing rests on the influence of the social environment of the network marketing organization. Network marketing specific self-efficacy, social competence and motivation for establishing one's own business are also hypothesized to play an important role in their engagement in entrepreneurial actions. Drawing upon Bandura's social cognitive theory and the immigrant entrepreneurship literature, the present study investigates whether the social environmental influence of a network marketing organization affects the extent to which Chinese immigrants develop the self-efficacy, social competence and motivation to establish their own business and how these variables affect the actions undertaken in the host country. The study is based on the sample of 194 Chinese immigrants in their adopted host country, Australia. The findings of the survey suggest that the social environment within network marketing organizations positively affects self-efficacy, which in turn positively affects the entrepreneurial actions undertaken by Chinese immigrants in conducting their network marketing business. Social environmental influence impacts positively on their motivation to establish their own network marketing business and social competence. However the effects of motivation and social competence on entrepreneurial action were not supported. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Paul D. Reynolds: Entrepreneurship Research Innovator,Coordinator, and Disseminator

Paul Davidson Reynolds is the 2004 winner of the International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. In this article Professor Reynolds’ contributions are summarized in terms of four sets of triplets. The first is as innovator, coordinator and disseminator of novel and important empirical research studies. The second triplet concerns the main areas of his contributions: regional variations in entrepreneurial activity, nascent entrepreneurship and firms in gestation and international comparisons of the prevalence of entrepreneurial activity. The third set of triplets concerns what aspects of the research process he has contributed to: development of new empirical methods to research entrepreneurship; coining of new concepts that now permeate this field of research, and provision of important empirical results. The final set of triplets concerns the audiences to which Reynolds’ research appeal: researchers, policy-makers and business practitioners. It is concluded that although his contributions are many and of different kinds, the single most important one is that his research has made it increasingly unreasonable to theorize and design research as if the economy essentially consisted of a relatively stable core of large, established firms and entry and exit of new firms were relatively infrequent, marginal and insignificant.     

Market imperfections,opportunity and sustainable entrepreneurship

This research develops the argument that four types of market imperfections (i.e., inefficient firms, externalities, flawed pricing mechanisms and information asymmetries) at once contribute to environmental degradation and that they also provide significant opportunities for the creation of radical technologies and innovative business models. We show that these opportunities establish the foundations for an emerging model of sustainable entrepreneurship, one which enables founders to obtain entrepreneurial rents while simultaneously improving local and global social and environmental conditions. To advance this new field, we offer suggestions for a research agenda focusing on two areas: the relationship between market imperfections and entrepreneurial opportunities, and the emerging field of sustainable entrepreneurship.     

The evolving domain of entrepreneurship research

Research on entrepreneurship has flourished in recent years and is evolving rapidly. This article explores the history of entrepreneurship research, how the research domain has evolved, and its current status as an academic field. The need to concretize these issues stems partly from a general interest in defining the current research domain and partly from the more specific tasks confronting the prize committee of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. Entrepreneurship has developed in many sub-fields within several disciplines—primarily economics, management/business administration, sociology, psychology, economic and cultural anthropology, business history, strategy, marketing, finance, and geography—representing a variety of research traditions, perspectives, and methods. We present an analytical framework that organizes our thinking about the domain of entrepreneurship research by specifying elements, levels of analysis, and the process/context. An overview is provided of where the field stands today and how it is positioned relative to the existing disciplines and new research fields upon which it draws. Areas needed for future progress are highlighted, particularly the need for a rigorous dynamic theory of entrepreneurship that relates entrepreneurial activity to economic growth and human welfare. Moreover, applied work based on more careful design as well as on theoretical models yielding more credible and robust estimates seems also highly warranted.     

Measuring entrepreneurship over time

This article is a review of three measurement issues that impact the study of entrepreneurship over time: (1) level of analysis difference between firms and individuals, (2) differences between rate and stock measures, and (3) the effects of choosing particular time frames on subsequent analytical results. Based on theory that views entrepreneurship as depending on ownership rights (Hawley 1907), this article develops a longitudinal measure of entrepreneurship in the United States—the number of organizations per capita. The problems and advantages of using a measure based on organizations per capita as an indicator of entrepreneurship is examined.Understanding how and what is being measured in studies of changes in entrepreneurship over time is an important issue for academic researchers and public policy makers. Measurement of changes in entrepreneurship over time can shed light on important research questions and public policy issues about entrepreneurship. For example, is entrepreneurship increasing in the United States? If entrepreneurship is increasing, is this trend comparable to any previous time periods, or is the current increase in entrepreneurship a new or unique social phenomenon? What influences changes in entrepreneurship over time?The choice of certain measures of entrepreneurship is likely to influence the answers to these questions. For example, the measures used in an entrepreneurship study are an implicit specification of one's views of entrepreneurship (e.g., entrepreneurship as self-employment or firm creation), and few measures of entrepreneurship reflect critical changes in important environmental influences (e.g., technological change) because of short measurement time frames. Therefore, determining the contribution of entrepreneurship to the well-being of an economy is dependent on understanding what measures of entrepreneurship are utilized for making these evaluations and the time frame used for these measures.We review three measurement issues that impact the study of entrepreneurship over time: (1) level of analysis differences between firms and individuals, (2) differences between rate and stock measures, and (3) the effects of choosing particular time frames on subsequent analytical results. Based on theory that views entrepreneurship as depending on ownership rights (Hawley 1907) this article develops a longitudinal measure of entrepreneurship in the United States—the number of organizations per capita.Studies of entrepreneurship focus on either individual level activity (e.g., self-employment) or on firm level activity (e.g., new incorporations). Self-employment research focuses on individuals who employ themselves; that is, individuals who report wages, but not wages paid to them by other individuals or organizations. In most studies of the self-employed, firm founders would, therefore, be classified as wage earners and not as entrepreneurs. New firm research focuses on the rate of new firm entrants, typically measured as new incorporations, so such businesses as proprietorships or partnerships will not be counted.A rate is a change from one state to another (e.g., the number of people who become self-employed for a specific year, or the number of new firms created for a specific year), whereas a stock specifies a particular level (e.g., much like a stock of inventory), such as the number of self-employed, or a particular number of firms, for a specific time period. It is important to recognize that entry into business does not necessarily guarantee remaining in business. For example, although the number of people who become self-employed may increase for a specific year, the number of people who remain self-employed may actually decrease if more of the self-employed fail to remain in business than those that enter. The stock of the self-employed can decrease if the outflow of self-employed is greater than the inflow. For those persons interested in whether entrepreneurial activity results in wealth creation (either individually or societally), the realization that entry into business may not lead to a sustainable business (and therefore no creation of wealth) should be a signal that measuring rates of business formation and rates of self-employment may not be appropriate for this type of research.The factors that drive changes in the rate of entrepreneurship are not likely to be manifest over short timeperiods. Changes in values, attitudes, technology, government regulations, and world economic and social changes have a significant influence on changes in entrepreneurship over time. Studies that have measured entrepreneurship over recent time periods are, therefore, likely to miss the influence of these variables.We introduce a measure of entrepreneurship (organizations per capita) based on a theory of entrepreneurship as ownership. This measure shows the stock of organizations in the U.S. economy over time (from 1857 to 1992). The problems and advantages of using a measure based on organizations per capita as an indicator of entrepreneurship is examined. We conclude with some suggestions for improving entrepreneurship research by recognizing the limitations of particular longitudinal entrepreneurship measures and by challenging the field to seek convergent validity among measures.     

Does Reflection Help Students to Develop Entrepreneurial Capabilities?

Recently, scholars have suggested that reflection is an important, or even essential, aspect of entrepreneurship teaching. However, there has been little empirical research on the links between reflection and entrepreneurial learning in a university setting. We test the relationship between reflection and learning in a sample of 125 entrepreneurship students. The results show that reflection supports the development of entrepreneurial capabilities as manifested in the change of Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC). We also find that previous startup experience and reflection are positively related to the baseline level of PBC. However, we find no evidence of vicarious learning through family business exposure. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Network Support and the Success of Newly Founded Business

The "network approach to entrepreneurship" is a prominent theoretical perspective within the literature on entrepreneurship. This literature assumes that network resources, networking activities and network support are heavily used to establish new firms (network founding hypothesis). Further, those entrepreneurs, who can refer to a broad and diverse social network and who receive much support from their network are more successful (network success hypothesis). Based on a study of 1,700 new business ventures in Upper Bavaria (Germany), the article gives an empirical test of the network success hypothesis. It is argued that one reason, why previous studies did not consistently find positive network effects, may be that social capital (network support) is used to compensate shortfalls of other types of capital (human capital and financial capital). This compensation hypothesis, however, does not find empirical confirmation. On the other hand, however, the network success hypothesis proves to be valid in our analyses, i.e. network support increases the probability of survival and growth of newly founded businesses.     

Identity,Enactment, and Entrepreneurship Engagement in a Declining Place

We examine entrepreneurship practice and identity work in a rural small town in New Zealand. Once prosperous, the town suffered economically and socially as old industries closed. Recently the town was rejuvenated, largely because of Linda's entrepreneurial activities. Our findings demonstrated conflict between her entrepreneurial identity and local sense of place. We theorize Linda's entrepreneurial identity in her business practice; where she experienced controversy, despite economic success. We argue that a complete understanding of identity and entrepreneurship practices requires attention to social and spatial processes, not just economic processes.     

Moving on from nascent entrepreneurship: measuring cross-national differences in the transition to new business ownership

Nascent entrepreneurship and new business ownership are subsequent stages in the entrepreneurial process. We illustrate how information from the largest internationally harmonized database on entrepreneurship, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project, can be used to approximate the entrepreneurial process. We make a methodological contribution by computing the ratio of new business ownership to nascent entrepreneurship in a way that reflects the transition from nascent to new business ownership and provides cross-nationally comparable information on the efficiency of the entrepreneurial process for 48 countries. We report evidence for the validity of the transition ratio by benchmarking it against transition rates obtained from longitudinal studies and by correlating it with commonly used entrepreneurship indicators and macro-level economic indices. The transition ratio enables future cross-national research on the entrepreneurial process by providing a reliable and valid indicator for one key transition in this process.     

Narcissism and learning from entrepreneurial failure

Failure of a prior business provides an opportunity for an entrepreneur to learn in the subsequent entrepreneurial endeavor, but learning from failure is not guaranteed. Why do some entrepreneurs learn less from failure than others? In this study, we propose that a narcissistic personality can create cognitive and motivational obstacles to learning. We further posit that the inhibiting effect of narcissism will be more salient when the costs of failure, especially social costs, are higher. Our analysis with a survey sample of startups provides the initial empirical evidence about the negative impact of narcissism on learning from entrepreneurial failure. The study adds to research on learning from failure and narcissism in entrepreneurship.     

Paths of evolution for the Chinese migrant entrepreneurship: a multiple case analysis in Italy

Chinese diaspora is one of the most important areas in the field of immigrant entrepreneurship and the Chinese case is, for absolute numbers, entrepreneurship rates and scientific attention, one of the most significant phenomena in the world and in Italy. While much of the literature on the topic focuses on ethnic networks and social ties, there is a lack of studies that acknowledge the role of business networks in the later growth of migrant entrepreneurship, when the importance of social ties within the ethnic community diminishes. This paper tries to answer the following research question: Which is the role of ethnic networks and business networks in the path of evolution of Chinese migrant entrepreneurship? Thus, the paper analyses the structure and characteristics of ethnic networks and business networks and the role of each in the growth and evolution of Chinese migrant entrepreneurship. Our research considers business networks as the main focus of analysis that may replace social ties in consolidating insidership in new business settings and in finding new opportunities. A qualitative methodology is adopted, namely a multiple case study. Five cases of individual Chinese companies settled in a specific area are presented, for which the networks in which they are involved are traced and analysed. The case analysis shows that in the evolution of Chinese migrant entrepreneurship, ethnic networks are very important in the early phases of the business, but the role of cross-cultural business networks becomes relevant for further development. Implications—managerial and for policy makers—are highlighted and discussed.