Exploiting Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Impact of Entrepreneurship on Growth

Knowledge is recognized as an important ingredient for economic growth in addition to physical capital and labor. While transforming knowledge into products and processes it is exploited commercially. Nevertheless, the existing knowledge stock and the absorptive capacity of actors like employees at firms and researchers at universities and research institutions are conditional for the ability to produce, identify, and exploit knowledge. Since incumbent firms do not exploit new knowledge to the full extent, realized entrepreneurial opportunities may arise. This paper tests the hypothesis whether or not entrepreneurship is an important vehicle for knowledge flows and economic growth. The empirical results indicate that an increase in innovative start-up activity is more effective than an increase in general entrepreneurship for economic growth.      

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education: A Study of Iranian Students' Entrepreneurial Intentions and Opportunity Identification

Building on the theory of planned behavior, an ex ante and ex post survey was used to assess the impacts of elective and compulsory entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) on students' entrepreneurial intention and identification of opportunities. Data were collected by questionnaire from a sample of 205 participants in EEPs at six Iranian universities. Both types of EEPs had significant positive impacts on students' subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Results also indicated that the elective EEPs significantly increased students' entrepreneurial intention, although this increase was not significant for the compulsory EEPs. The findings contribute to the theory of planned behavior and have implications for the design and delivery of EEPs.     

大学生创业倾向和创业教育需求研究

以湖北大学在校学生为例,对创业态度与意向、创业路径与策略、创业知识与能力和创业教育需求进行调查。结果表明：男生比女生创业自信度高;就业前景好,创业意愿也高;大学生倾向于先就业后创业：行业发展是创业地点选择的主要因素,行业选择起点较低;认为缺乏管理实践经验是创业的主要劣势：对于创业教育有很高的渴求度,倾向以公选课方式学习,内容上则希望了解更多的优惠政策。     

创业团队企业家精神及其测量

创业团队企业家精神的本质特征概括为集体创新、分享认知、共担风险和协作进取.在相关文献回顾基础上,借鉴个体企业家精神和公司企业家精神的测度量表,开发设计了创业团队企业家精神的测度量表,并通过调查数据分析,对量表的信度和效度进行实证检验,为今后拓宽并深化企业家精神的研究奠定了基础.     

The Impact of Environment Uncertainty and Effectual Flexibility on Entrepreneurial Resource Combination: The Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

Entrepreneurial resource combination is widely recognized as a key enabling factor to a new venture’s survival and growth, but how and why resources are integrated remain elusive. Borrowing from the theory of resource combination proposed by Sirmon, Hitt and Ireland (2007), this study empirically examines how environmental uncertainty impacts entrepreneurial resource combination. We also examine the mediating effect of effectual flexibility on the relationship between environmental uncertainty and entrepreneurial resource combination to see how new ventures utilize flexibility to neutralize the threat of environmental uncertainty. The moderating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy is also examined to see how entrepreneurs’ self-cognition affects these relationships. Examining data from 287 new ventures, we find that both environmental dynamism and environmental hostility have significantly positive influence on entrepreneurial resource combination (including entrepreneurial resource cohesion and entrepreneurial resource coupling). We also find that flexibility mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty (including environmental dynamism and environmental hostility) and entrepreneurial resource combination. Empirical studies also show that entrepreneurial self-efficacy positively moderates the relationship between environmental dynamism and flexibility but negatively moderates the relationship between environmental hostility and flexibility. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Entrepreneurial Intention and UAE Youth: Unique Influencers of Entrepreneurial Intentions in an Emerging Country Context

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a young, oil-rich country, where national youth display a clear preference for public sector employment. Growing youth unemployment reinforces the importance of non-government employment, including entrepreneurship. This study investigates UAE national youth intentions toward entrepreneurship through the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ). Analysis (N?=?544) identifies the direct influence of attitude and perceived behavioral control and indirect influence of subjective norms on entrepreneurship intention. Results also examine several demographic variables and highlight the potential importance of family and social groups in promoting entrepreneurial intentions in this emerging country context.     

William J. Baumol: An Entrepreneurial Economist on the Economics of Entrepreneurship

William J. Baumol is the 2003 winner of the International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. Throughout his career Baumol has urged the profession to pay attention to the instrumental role of entrepreneurship in economic renewal and growth. At the same time he has insisted that economists continue to use their usual tool box when the purview of analysis is extended to entrepreneurship. Hence, Baumol can be characterized as a revolutionary from within. In this article we present and discuss Baumol's research contribution in the areas of entrepreneurship and small business economics, notably from a growth perspective. In addition to placing his work in these areas into the wider context of his full contribution, we emphasize Baumol's findings that growth cannot be explained by the accumulation of various factors of production per se; human creativity and productive entrepreneurship are needed to combine the inputs in profitable ways. As a result, an institutional environment that encourages productive entrepreneurship and human experimentation becomes the ultimate determinant of economic growth.     

Prevalence and Persistence of High-Growth Entrepreneurship: Which Institutions Matter Most?

Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade - Which institutions encourage high-growth entrepreneurship to emerge and to be sustained? Building on institutional theory, this study exploits a sample...     

The Role of Perceived University Support in the Formation of Students' Entrepreneurial Intention

Entrepreneurship education is central to student entrepreneurship. Previous research has attempted to understand the role of entrepreneurship education in the formation of students' entrepreneurial intention and behavior, albeit in an isolated manner. Universities can support entrepreneurship in many ways, but it is important to measure students' perception of the support that they receive in order to understand the extent of such support and its impact on students. The current study proposed and tested an integrative, multiperspective framework. We have hypothesized that the three dimensions of university support, that is, perceived educational support, concept development support, and business development support, together with institutional support, shape students' entrepreneurial self‐efficacy. In turn, entrepreneurial self‐efficacy and individual motivations constitute the fundamental elements of the intention to start a business. A sample of 805 university students took part in the study and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Our findings showed that perceived educational support exerted the highest influence on entrepreneurial self‐efficacy, followed by concept development support, business development support, and institutional support. Self‐efficacy in turn had a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention. Individual motivations such as self‐realization, recognition, and role had an additional impact on intention. However, intention was not related to financial success, innovation, and independence. The findings suggest that a holistic perspective provides a more meaningful understanding of the role of perceived university support in the formation of students' entrepreneurial intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

创业意愿如何转化为创业行为？——基于行动-状态导向作用的研究

创业意愿转化为创业行为才具有重要的现实意义。文章以大学生为对象，在理论研究的基础上，构建行动-状态导向调节创业意愿与创业行为关系的理论模型，运用滚雪球式非随机便利抽样法进行间隔1年时间的两个阶段调查，通过分层回归分析法等进行数据分析和假设检验。研究发现，创业意愿对创业行为具有显著正向预测作用，行动导向的“脱离”“主动”和“持续”维度分别强化创业意愿与创业行为的正向关系；而状态导向的“执着”“犹豫”和“短暂”维度分别弱化创业意愿与创业行为的正向关系。研究结果表明，在个人具有行动导向时创业意愿更能转化为创业行为，行动导向这种个人特质为创业意愿转化为创业行为提供了充分条件。以此为基础，对公共部门和大学生个人提出了策略建议。     

The Long‐Term Impact of Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Venture Performance

We collected multi‐wave survey data to assess the lagged effects of entrepreneurial self‐efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on firm performance over a five‐year period. The results of our study indicate that ESE and EO are both positively associated with firm performance but in different, and interesting, ways. Entrepreneurially self‐efficacious founder/managers may help improve the performance of very young firms but such benefits dissipate over time. An EO, on the other hand, does not appear to be particularly beneficial to very young firms. However, our results suggest an EO may play an increasingly valuable role as new firms mature.     

The Impact of Financial Incentives and Perceptions of Seriousness on Whistleblowing Intention

The purpose of this article is to qualitatively describe and critically explain the discursive construction of employee co-operation negotiations in Finland as an arena for management-by-fear. The article consists of a theoretical review, covering the legislative basis of co-operation negotiations and recent research on management-by-fear. The empirical study consists of media texts and company media releases in Finland in 2012–2013. The main conclusions are that there are distinctive features in the co-operation negotiations that enable and enforce the possibility of management-by-fear, and thus destructive leadership. The process, supported by law and very much against the original aim, enhances authoritative leadership, objectification of employees, distortion of information and misleading, and the negative consequences thereof. The process is an employer-invited discursive dance where the employee has to follow through the set steps and in the set rhythm, with the media orchestrating the tune and managing the fear. The study adds a valuable element to the research areas of downsizing, bad management, and the discursive construction of these phenomena.     

The Improvisational Entrepreneur: Improvisation Training in Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurs constantly face unexpected and unanticipated situations; those that thrive are ones that are identified by the literature as “improvisational.” Yet extant entrepreneurship research has not distinguished what improvisation is from how to do it. I propose training in the principles developed from the theory of performing improvisation promotes the entrepreneurship mindset through pedagogy. Qualitative studies reveal entrepreneurial self‐efficacy themes related to interpersonal/team considerations for entrepreneurs, and introduce “improvisational alertness” as a critical entrepreneurship consideration. Entrepreneurs can learn to keenly pay attention to interpersonal conditions of the present and the future in order to adapt potential limitations for venture success.     

Consumer Choice: A Study of Insurance Buying Intention,Attitudes and Beliefs

This article continues the theme, introduced in a previous article, of testing the validity and relevance of Fishbein's Theory of Reasoned Action to the purchase of life assurance. In this, the second stage, empirical analysis of the data is conducted and its meaning and relevance considered. Conclusions are then drawn as to the dimensions which seem to be important to the purchasing of life assurance.     

移动App营销模式对消费者购买意愿的影响

随着4G技术的发展以及智能手机等移动终端的普及,移动App展现出的营销价值吸引了大量商家,并逐渐改变了传统的企业营销方式。本文将移动App营销模式划分为品牌App、联盟App、App广告植入和App广告投放四种模式,通过构建移动App营销模式对消费者购买意愿影响的研究模型,探讨其对消费者购买意愿的影响因素和作用机理。研究结果表明,移动App营销模式部分影响消费者感知价值,移动App营销模式对消费者购买意愿具有显著影响,消费者感知价值对消费者购买意愿具有显著影响。     

异质性信贷约束对农民创业绩效的影响

创业绩效是每个创业者关注的核心问题。本文基于信贷均衡理论,采用我国传统劳务输出大省江西省创业农民的调查数据,甄别了样本的信贷约束及类型,实证研究了信贷约束及其类型异质性对农民创业绩效的影响。内生处理效应模型的估计结果表明,相比无信贷约束样本,受到信贷约束的农民创业财务绩效低94%,充分缓解其信贷约束能够提升财务绩效约45%。采用控制方程方法、OLS模型的回归结果表明,相比无信贷约束样本,受到完全数量型信贷约束、风险型信贷约束和部分数量型信贷约束的农民创业财务绩效分别低34%、26%和16%。信贷约束及其类型异质性对农民创业成长绩效的稳健性检验结果也印证了两者的负向关系。因此,应实施差异化的信贷政策,努力缓解创业农民的信贷约束,提升其创业绩效。     

The Impact of Technological Turbulence on Entrepreneurial Behavior, Social Norms and Ethics: Three Internet-based Cases

We investigate the entrepreneurial opportunities and ethical dilemmas presented by technological turbulence. More specifically we investigate the line between Baumol’s [J. Polit. Econ. 98 (1990) 893] productive (e.g. innovation), unproductive (e.g. rent seeking) and destructive (e.g. criminal) entrepreneurship through three examples of Internet innovation – spam (destructive), music file sharing (unproductive), and Internet pharmacies (potentially productive). The emergence of accessible Internet technologies, under present norms, has created the potential for all three entrepreneurial activities. Because of the propensity for self-serving biases and for bending the rules, the need for creativity in overcoming obstacles and overall liabilities of newness, entrepreneurs are likely to challenge established industrial morals and laws. Unlike new entrants, incumbents must abide by the currently accepted norms, and thus suffer from “liabilities of oldness”. The challenge for new entrants is to change sociopolitical legitimacy, whereas incumbents need to defend the established norms. We discuss competitive and other issues that result from technological turbulence and innovation.     

Examining Entrepreneurial Cognition: An Occupational Analysis of Balanced Linear and Nonlinear Thinking and Entrepreneurship Success

This empirical study advances entrepreneurial cognition research by examining whether entrepreneurs possess a high nonlinear (e.g., intuitive, creative, emotional) thinking style, as some studies and a common stereotype of entrepreneurs would suggest, or whether they possess a more versatile balance in both nonlinear and linear (e.g., analytic, rational, logical) thinking styles. As predicted, 39 entrepreneurs demonstrated greater balance in linear and nonlinear thinking styles than their professional actor (n = 33), accountant (n = 31), and frontline manager (n = 77) counterparts, though they did not significantly differ in thinking style balance from senior executives (n = 39). Unexpectedly, educational background was associated with thinking style balance, suggesting that years of formal education may contribute to one's versatility in utilizing both linear and nonlinear thinking styles. For the entrepreneur sample, linear and nonlinear thinking styles balance predicted years in current business after controlling for industry, number of employees, and demographic variables. Implications for future entrepreneurial cognition research and entrepreneurship education are discussed.