Women's Perceived Empowerment in Entrepreneurial Efforts: The Role of Bricolage and Psychological Capital

Women's entrepreneurial empowerment—perceived competence, self‐determination, and ability in managing a firm as an entrepreneur—is important to women's entrepreneurship in developing countries. Drawing on a sample of 369 women entrepreneurs from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located in Gujarat, a western state in India, we find that women's entrepreneurial empowerment is positively associated with firm revenues. Gains from empowerment could be further enhanced for women entrepreneurs managing resource constraints—through bricolage—and meeting the challenges of self‐employment—through psychological capital. The present study contributes to literature on women's entrepreneurial empowerment and SME performance. Women's empowerment and the bolstering effects of bricolage and psychological capital could help government agencies and non‐government organizations devise programs and policies to improve the performance of women‐owned SMEs in developing countries.     

Linking family-to-business enrichment and support to entrepreneurial success: Do female and male entrepreneurs experience different outcomes?

This study used survey data from 253 entrepreneurs who founded small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to examine how experiences in their family domain may benefit their experiences in their business domain. Specifically, it hypothesized that affective family-to-business enrichment, instrumental family-to-business enrichment, and family-to-business support would be positively related to entrepreneurial success and that each relationship would be more positive for female entrepreneurs than male entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial success was assessed by economic measures (business performance, growth in employment) and measures of satisfaction with the entrepreneurial experience (satisfaction with status, satisfaction with employee relationships). Results offered substantial support for the notion that female entrepreneurs benefit from the linkages of family-to-business enrichment and support to entrepreneurial success, whereas they offered no support for the notion that male entrepreneurs benefit from these linkages. Female entrepreneurs may experience such benefits because of their relative lack of access to other resources such as human, social, and financial capital and because the female gender role encourages them to pursue work–family synergies. In contrast, male entrepreneurs may fail to experience such benefits because of the relative abundance of other resources available to them and because the male gender role discourages them from pursuing work–family synergies.     

The Impact of Human and Social Capital on Entrepreneurs’ Knowledge of Finance Alternatives

Building upon prior research that demonstrates how the limited knowledge of finance alternatives of entrepreneurs may cause suboptimal finance decisions, this paper examines how entrepreneurs’ human and social capital influence their knowledge of finance alternatives. For this purpose, we use survey data from 103 Belgian start‐ups. Results demonstrate that entrepreneurs with a business education and entrepreneurs with experience in accountancy or finance have a broader knowledge of finance alternatives. Having a strong network in the financial community is further positively associated with the knowledge of finance alternatives. However, generic human capital, including higher education, industry experience, and management experience, is almost not related with the knowledge of finance alternatives.     

Language ability and entrepreneurship education: Necessary skills for Europe’s start-ups?

Language ability and entrepreneurial education are seen as essential resources for start-ups operating in intensified landscapes of internationalisation and globalisation. Deemed as the necessary skills for corporate effectiveness vis-à-vis rivals, this paper responds to calls for increased understandings of cultural components as vital to entrepreneurship and the product of institutional forces. Thus, it explores (a) the impact language ability has on start-up expansion; (b) the perceptions of international relations as based on language ability as a tool for cross-cultural communication; and (c) the role of educational context from the entrepreneurs’ perspective. Based on interviews from European online start-ups across three discrete contexts—Finland, Portugal and Sweden—it concludes that contextual trends regarding language and education are founded upon the cultural-cognitive and normative pillars of institutionalisation. Further, by combining actor-context perspectives, it poses that language ability and education are resources borne from the domestic environment which positively moderate the start-up’s international success. Nevertheless, the notion of learnt entrepreneurship remains contested. Taken together, this study contributes by offering deeper insight into the role of context on entrepreneurial tendencies by combining resource and institutional perspectives.     

Exploring factors motivating entrepreneurial intentions: the case of Italian university students

This study aims to identify the factors motivating the intentions of university students to become entrepreneurs. Leveraging data from a survey of 941 Italian students and adopting Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour, this paper employs the structural equation model to identify factors explaining students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The findings show that attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control positively shape Italian students’ intentions. Moreover, the findings signal that the skills acquired during the university pathway play a crucial role in encouraging students to consider entrepreneurial choices. The paper extends and complements the academic and policy debate in the field of entrepreneurship offering a comprehensive investigation of the factors affecting entrepreneurial intentions. It also allows us to contend that higher education may have an important role to play in fostering the entrepreneurial intentions of young people. This is especially significant given current global economic conditions and the renewed importance of self‐employment strategies.     

A fresh start and the learning experience of ethnic minority entrepreneurs

This paper focuses on ethnic minority entrepreneurs whose businesses failed within the first 3 years of trading, but were starting afresh with the help of the Brent Business Venture Fresh Start in Business programme. The paper aims to identify why the entrepreneurs had previously failed; what prompted them to start again; what was different about their business approach and practices second time around; and how key lessons had been learned as a result of their previous experiences that can improve their prospects for success in the future. The resultant insight derives out of an evaluation study of the Fresh Start programme, the methodology for which included initial telephone interviews with 20 ethnic minority entrepreneurs spread across eight business sectors, during which profile data were collected. The second phase of the study involved in‐depth face‐to‐face and semi‐structured interviews with the 20 entrepreneurs. The main findings suggest that failed entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes and actions embedded in the development processes and activities underpinning their first business venture attempt and are more successful second time around. The key learning processes and activities include learning from customer feedback, from interface with suppliers, from interaction with peers and from the fostering and facilitating inputs of provision such as the Fresh Start programme. The ability to learn by doing, problem‐solving and opportunity‐taking is important. The study concludes by highlighting key identified management capabilities which can improve the likelihood of new venture success, and in particular the value of giving future focus to the nature and form of effective strategic learning processes and activities that successful owner managers undertake and how these could be nurtured as part of the would‐be entrepreneurs’‘management capabilities tool box’.     

Applying Person‐Environment Fit Theory to Identify Personality Differences between Prospective Social and Commercial Entrepreneurs: An Explorative Study

Research has started to investigate personality traits of social entrepreneurs because such traits in commercial entrepreneurs have been found to affect new venture creation/success. In this exploratory study, we apply the person‐environment fit theory and analyze specific social entrepreneurial personality dimensions (i.e., altruism, empathic concern, personal distress, compassion), and classical entrepreneurial personality dimensions (i.e., need for achievement (nAch), entrepreneurial self‐efficacy (ESE), general self‐efficacy, risk‐taking propensity) to identify differences between prospective social and commercial entrepreneurs. Using a sample of 85 prospective entrepreneurs, results show that prospective social entrepreneurs differ from prospective commercial entrepreneurs in the personality dimensions of personal distress, nAch, ESE, and risk‐taking propensity.     

Beyond social capital: the role of entrepreneurs' social competence in their financial success

Two studies investigated the hypothesis that the higher entrepreneurs' social competence (their ability to interact effectively with others as based on discrete social skills), the greater their financial success. Entrepreneurs working in two different industries (cosmetics and high-tech) completed a questionnaire designed to measure several aspects of their social competence (e.g., accuracy in perceiving others, skill at impression management, persuasiveness). Results indicated that one aspect of social competence (e.g., accuracy in perceiving others) was positively related to financial success for both groups of entrepreneurs. In addition, social adaptability was related to financial success for entrepreneurs in the cosmetics industry, and expressiveness was related to such success for the entrepreneurs in the high-tech industry. The questionnaire employed to assess social competence was cross-validated with a third group of entrepreneurs who completed this measure themselves, and whose social competence was also rated by persons who knew them well. The two sets of ratings agreed closely, thus providing evidence for the validity of this measure. Overall, findings are consistent with the view that a high level of social capital (e.g., a favorable reputation, extensive social network, etc.) assists entrepreneurs in gaining access to persons important for their success. Once such access is attained, however, entrepreneurs' social competence influences the outcomes they experience.     

A Gender‐Aware Study of Self‐Leadership Strategies among High‐Growth Entrepreneurs

We apply a gender‐aware framework to examine the self‐leadership strategies men and women early stage high‐growth entrepreneurs employ as they develop innovations. Utilizing a matched‐pair sample of early stage entrepreneurs operating firms in high‐technology business incubators, our results suggest that female and male entrepreneurs have significantly different self‐goal‐setting and self‐cueing behaviors. Results also suggest male entrepreneurs who use stronger goal‐setting behaviors increase their intellectual property development to a greater extent than female founders. Further, for female entrepreneurs who use greater self‐cueing, the negative relationship realized with intellectual property development is lower than for male entrepreneurs.     

Capital,Motives, and Their Link to Investment Intentions: The Moderating Role of the Financial Crisis in Greece

This research examined the moderating role of the financial crisis on the relationship between capital/motives and investment intentions. Human and social capital, nonfinancial resources, and all motives except financial success related positively to investment intention. Social capital and the motive for financial success related positively to investment intention only for those affected by the crisis in a negative way. The motives for independence and recognition related positively to investment intention only for those affected by the crisis in a positive way, while the motive of self‐realization related positively to investment intentions particularly for those affected by the crisis in a positive way.     

Young consumers’ innovativeness in apparel choices: A model including consumer self‐confidence

In industries with network effects, consumer innovators help to trigger the critical mass needed for a product innovation to be successful. Thus, firms can benefit from actions that increase consumer innovativeness in their target markets. Consumer innovativeness has been associated with variables such as hedonic shopping motivation, impulsiveness and status seeking. There is limited work on the impact on consumer innovativeness of consumer characteristics that reflect consumers’ self‐confident ability to choose. This study proposes and tests a model for consumer innovativeness that incorporates variables from previous research and uncovers the importance of consumer self‐confidence. We collect survey data from 534 Chilean girls, ages 10–15. After building constructs with the help of exploratory factor analysis, we analyze the data with linear regression estimation (via OLS). Our results reveal that consumer self‐confidence is positively and significantly related to consumer innovativeness. Our findings also add evidence ‐from a younger age group‐ regarding the significance of status seeking, impulsiveness and hedonic shopping motivation on consumer innovativeness. Results suggest that companies could leverage consumer innovativeness by taking actions to increase consumers’ self‐confidence. Innovative apparel choices in young consumers could possibly also be strengthened by communicating status achievement and by enhancing shopping enjoyment.     

Human capital signals and entrepreneurs’ success in equity crowdfunding

Grounding on research about the role of signals in the attraction of equity finance, this paper studies the effects of diverse human capital signals on entrepreneurs’ success in equity crowdfunding. We argue that the human capital of an entrepreneur, who launches (alone or with other teammates) an equity crowdfunding campaign to finance her start-up, constitutes a set of signals of the start-up quality. The impact of each human capital signal on entrepreneur’s success in equity crowdfunding depends on both signal fit with start-up quality and signal ambiguity. Empirical estimates on 284 entrepreneurs who launched equity crowdfunding campaigns indicate that only entrepreneurs’ business education and entrepreneurial experience, two human capital signals that have both a good fit with start-up quality and a low degree of ambiguity, significantly contribute to entrepreneurs’ success in equity crowdfunding.     

The role of entrepreneurs in firm-level innovation: Joint effects of positive affect,creativity, and environmental dynamism

Innovation is often a crucial ingredient in new venture success but at present, we know relatively little about the role of individual entrepreneurs in encouraging its occurrence. The present research addressed this issue by investigating the joint effects, on firm-level innovation, of two variables pertaining to entrepreneurs (their creativity and positive affect) and a key environmental variable (environmental dynamism). Although it has been predicted that affect plays an important role in entrepreneurship [Baron, R. A., 2008. The role of affect in the entrepreneurial process. Academy of Management Review 33(2), 328–340.], relatively little empirical evidence on its effects has been obtained to date (e.g., [Foo, M.D. In press. Emotions and entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.]). Further, although the link between creativity and innovation has been described in past literature [Amabile, T.M., 1988. A model or creativity and innovation in organizations. In B.M. Staw and L.L. Cummings (Ed.)., Research in organizational behavior 10, 123–167.], direct evidence for its existence is currently lacking. Findings of the present research indicate that positive affect among founding entrepreneurs is significantly related to their creativity and that creativity, in turn, is positively related to firm-level innovation. Both of these relationships are moderated by environmental dynamism, being stronger in highly dynamic than stable environments.     

Female‐Led High‐Growth: Examining the Role of Human and Financial Resource Management

We integrate research on upper echelons theory, the resource‐based view, and gender to explore conditions that facilitate high growth for female‐led firms. We argue that female entrepreneurs have certain advantages that help them leverage their firms’ human and financial capital to achieve high growth. In support, using a sample of U.S.‐based entrepreneurial firms, we found evidence that having a female lead entrepreneur positively moderated the positive relationships between indicators of firms’ human and financial capital and high growth. The findings have implications for programs, policies, and practices to encourage more high growth in firms with female lead entrepreneurs.     

The impact of human capital on the early success of necessity versus opportunity-based entrepreneurs

This paper examines whether founders’ backgrounds influence new firm survival in the early years after startup, focusing, in particular, on the impact of unemployment-driven entrepreneurship. For entrepreneurs who left their previous employment to found a new firm, both general and specific human capital play a key role in enhancing early survival chances. However, various forms of human capital have little effect on early survival of unemployment-driven entrepreneurs, who rely mostly on previous entrepreneurial experience to persevere. Results suggest that pre-entry capabilities play an important role in the early success of opportunity-based entrepreneurs, but have little influence on the early success of necessity-based ones.     

Evaluating Advice: Self‐Presentational Biases between High and Low Self‐Monitors

Previous research has demonstrated that high and low self‐monitors sought advice from others who shared their underlying motivational dispositions. Here, three studies extend the prior research by exploring how consumers’ underlying motives direct the type of advice offered and how it is evaluated. In Study 1, high and low self‐monitors were asked to evaluate the advice they gave others. As predicted, high self‐monitors rated their advice more favorably than did low self‐monitors. The underlying motivation that caused high self‐monitors to evaluate their advice more positively was investigated in Study 2. Results indicated that high self‐monitors rated their advice higher because it appeared to be meeting a social‐adjustive function (i.e., self‐presentational needs). In Study 3, high and low self‐monitors created an advertisement that featured their advice on dating for a fictitious online matchmaking service. As expected, advertisements created by high self‐monitors contained advice that addressed social‐adjustive needs while those created by low self‐monitors contained advice that addressed value‐expressive needs. The results of these studies suggest that underlying motivations of the individual play an active role in how advice is crafted and evaluated.     

Is success hereditary? Evidence on the performance of spawned ventures

A common phenomenon in entrepreneurship is that employees turn away from employment to found their own businesses. Prior literature discusses the former employers’ characteristics that influence the creation of entrepreneurial ventures. An investigation of whether these characteristics also affect the success of the spawned ventures is missing so far. This paper contributes to the literature by showing that entrepreneurial ventures spawned by well performing firms are financially more successful than ventures stemming from poorly performing firms. This suggests that spawned entrepreneurs are able to exploit valuable knowledge from their previous employers which impacts their ventures’ performance positively. The analysis is based on a linked employee–employer data set for the Netherlands for the period 1999–2004.     

Does Congruence with an Entrepreneur Social Identity Encourage Positive Emotion Under Environmental Dynamism?

Entrepreneurial identities and emotions can have profound effects on entrepreneurs. We examine how positive emotion (PE) among entrepreneurs may be influenced by the congruence they experience between their self‐concept and the entrepreneur social identity. Given that uncertainty in the business environment can exert powerful effects throughout the entrepreneurial process, we further test the moderating impact of environmental dynamism on the relationship between identity congruence and PE. Results from a study of 175 entrepreneurs indicate that entrepreneurs experiencing greater congruence have higher levels of PE, and that this relationship is stronger in more dynamic environments.     

Am I an entrepreneur? How imposter fears hinder women entrepreneurs’ business growth

Although participation of women in entrepreneurship continues to grow, a gender-performance gap persists. While the differential inputs and values perspectives have investigated both external and internal forces that help explain this gap, neither perspective has considered an important cognitive mechanism that captures gender differences: identity. The purpose of this article is to examine the role of imposter fears in shaping entrepreneurial identity and the desire for business growth. Entrepreneurship has long been associated with masculine notions of success, which may lead women to discount themselves as ‘real’ entrepreneurs or successful in the context of these masculine norms. Our goal is to draw attention to women entrepreneurs’ imposter fears in order to understand how women think about and construct their identity as entrepreneurs and subsequently contemplate the success and growth of their ventures. We also propose mitigating factors that can disrupt gendered norms and facilitate self-efficacy for women entrepreneurs in the pursuit of business growth.     

A Career Path Leading to Well‐being and Success

In line with self‐determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), this study aims to determine the influence of different contents and motives of career aspirations, together with objective career success, on subjective career success and well‐being. Moreover, it aims to verify if psychological need, satisfaction, and frustration play a mediating role in these relationships. Results suggest that the pursuit of some aspirations and the underlying motives for their pursuit are more beneficial. Aspiration contents, and aspiration motives, together with objective career success, influence subjective well‐being and subjective career success, in part because they satisfy or frustrate psychological needs. This study brings together two fields of research evolving in parallel—career and life aspirations— to shed new light on both of them. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.