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Harsh Evaluations of Entrepreneurs Who Fail: The Role of Sexual Orientation, Use of Environmentally Friendly Technologies, and Observers' Perspective Taking

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  • Dean A. Shepherd
  • Holger Patzelt

Abstract

Although there is a pervasive anti-failure bias in society, we investigate why some entrepreneurs who fail are evaluated more harshly than others. Building on attribution theory and the literatures on prejudice, pro-social intentions, and perspective taking, we offer an evaluation model of entrepreneurial failure and test this model on 6,784 assessments made by 212 observers. We find that variance in the harshness of failure evaluations depends on both the attributes of the entrepreneur and the attributes of the observer, and the interaction between the two. Specifically, entrepreneurs who are homosexual are evaluated more harshly by some observers and entrepreneurs who use environmentally friendly technology are evaluated less harshly. Moreover, observers high in perspective taking are more ‘lenient’ in their failure evaluations of those who use environmentally friendly technology than those low in perspective taking.

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  • Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2015. "Harsh Evaluations of Entrepreneurs Who Fail: The Role of Sexual Orientation, Use of Environmentally Friendly Technologies, and Observers' Perspective Taking," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 253-284, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:52:y:2015:i:2:p:253-284
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    3. Moser, Kilian J. & Tumasjan, Andranik & Welpe, Isabell M., 2017. "Small but attractive: Dimensions of new venture employer attractiveness and the moderating role of applicants' entrepreneurial behaviors," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 588-610.
    4. Sonia S. Siraz & Björn Claes & Julio O. De Castro & Eero Vaara, 2023. "Theorizing the Grey Area between Legitimacy and Illegitimacy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 924-962, June.
    5. Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Cardon, Melissa S. & Rutherford, Matthew W. & Ruggs, Enrica N. & Balachandra, Lakshmi & Baron, Robert A., 2023. "Rationality in the entrepreneurship process: Is being rational actually rational? Introduction to the special issue," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    6. Kibler, Ewald & Mandl, Christoph & Kautonen, Teemu & Berger, Elisabeth S.C., 2017. "Attributes of legitimate venture failure impressions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 145-161.
    7. Rony Germon & Séverine Leloarne & Myriam Razgallah & Myriam Razgallah & Adnane Maalaoui, 2019. "The Role of Sexual Orientation in Entrepreneurial Intention: The Case of Parisian LGB People," Working Papers 2019-007, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    8. Verena Rieger & Jana Wilken & Andreas Engelen, 2023. "Career Booster or Dead End? Entrepreneurial Failure and Its Consequences for Subsequent Corporate Careers," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 800-833, June.
    9. Dean A. Shepherd & Johan Wiklund, 2020. "Simple Rules, Templates, and Heuristics! An Attempt to Deconstruct the Craft of Writing an Entrepreneurship Paper," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(3), pages 371-390, May.
    10. Kumju Hwang & Jinsook Choi, 2021. "How Do Failed Entrepreneurs Cope with Their Prior Failure When They Seek Subsequent Re-Entry into Serial Entrepreneurship? Failed Entrepreneurs’ Optimism and Defensive Pessimism and Coping Humor as a ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-24, June.
    11. Küsshauer, Alexander & Baum, Matthias, 2023. "The good, the bad and the uncertain: Employers' perceptions of former entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    12. Danneels, Erwin & Vestal, Alex, 2020. "Normalizing vs. analyzing: Drawing the lessons from failure to enhance firm innovativeness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1).
    13. Chong Kyoon Lee & Johan Wiklund & Alejandro Amezcua & Tae Jun Bae & Almantas Palubinskas, 2022. "Business failure and institutions in entrepreneurship: a systematic review and research agenda," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1997-2023, April.
    14. Hsu, Dan K. & Shinnar, Rachel S. & Anderson, Stella E., 2019. "‘I wish I had a regular job’: An exploratory study of entrepreneurial regret," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 217-227.
    15. Luca Pistilli & Alessia Paccagnini & Stefano Breschi & Franco Malerba, 2023. "Gender Bias in Entrepreneurship: What is the Role of the Founders’ Entrepreneurial Background?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 325-346, October.

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