IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ijrema/v41y2024i3p436-454.html

Embracing entrepreneurship in the creator economy: The rise of creatrepreneurs

Author

Listed:
  • Edeling, Alexander
  • Wies, Simone

Abstract

The creator economy has led to profound transformations in the way that individuals—content creators—produce and deliver digital content, how they create and appropriate value from such content, and how they grow careers in venturing such content creation. However, despite the industry’s economic significance, the conceptualization of content creators as entrepreneurs remains underexplored. This paper aims to bridge this gap by exploring creators from an entrepreneurial perspective along a creatrepreneur model. Based on an extensive review of academic research, industry reports, as well as eight expert interviews with diverse stakeholders within the creator economy ecosystem, the article defines the scope of creators’ entrepreneurial activities, offers a taxonomy of creator venture models, and develops a framework of key drivers of entrepreneurial success within the creator economy, encompassing both environmental and individual success factors. Building on this conceptualization, this paper further identifies potential avenues for future research in the creator economy, focusing on entrepreneurial strategies in building creator ventures and evaluating their key success factors, and concludes by highlighting empirical challenges in exploring these directions.

Suggested Citation

  • Edeling, Alexander & Wies, Simone, 2024. "Embracing entrepreneurship in the creator economy: The rise of creatrepreneurs," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 436-454.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:41:y:2024:i:3:p:436-454
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.07.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167811624000570
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.07.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rebecca Mardon & Hayley Cocker & Kate Daunt & Linda L Price & Markus Giesler & Giana Eckhardt, 2023. "How Social Media Influencers Impact Consumer Collectives: An Embeddedness Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 50(3), pages 617-644.
    2. Steier, Lloyd, 2003. "Variants of agency contracts in family-financed ventures as a continuum of familial altruistic and market rationalities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 597-618, September.
    3. Belleflamme, Paul & Omrani, Nessrine & Peitz, Martin, 2015. "The economics of crowdfunding platforms," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 11-28.
    4. Edelman, Linda F. & Manolova, Tatiana & Shirokova, Galina & Tsukanova, Tatyana, 2016. "The impact of family support on young entrepreneurs' start-up activities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 428-448.
    5. Satish Nambisan, 2017. "Digital Entrepreneurship: Toward a Digital Technology Perspective of Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(6), pages 1029-1055, November.
    6. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Usrey, Bryan, 2021. "The impact of influencer motives and commonness perceptions on follower reactions toward incentivized reviews," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 531-548.
    7. Gala, Kaushik & Schwab, Andreas & Mueller, Brandon A., 2024. "Star entrepreneurs on digital platforms: Heavy-tailed performance distributions and their generative mechanisms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    8. Elea McDonnell Feit & Ron Berman, 2019. "Test & Roll: Profit-Maximizing A/B Tests," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 1038-1058, November.
    9. Fine F. Leung & Flora F. Gu & Robert W. Palmatier, 2022. "Online influencer marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 226-251, March.
    10. Julian E. Lange & Aleksandar Mollov & Michael Pearlmutter & Sunil Singh & William D. Bygrave, 2007. "Pre-start-up formal business plans and post-start-up performance: A study of 116 new ventures," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 237-256, April.
    11. Karagür, Zeynep & Becker, Jan-Michael & Klein, Kristina & Edeling, Alexander, 2022. "How, why, and when disclosure type matters for influencer marketing," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 313-335.
    12. Khedhaouria, Anis & Cucchi, Alain, 2019. "Technostress creators, personality traits, and job burnout: A fuzzy-set configurational analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 349-361.
    13. Stephen L. Vargo & Linda Peters & Hans Kjellberg & Kaisa Koskela-Huotari & Suvi Nenonen & Francesco Polese & Debora Sarno & Claudia Vaughan, 2023. "Emergence in marketing: an institutional and ecosystem framework," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 2-22, January.
    14. Cutolo, Donato & Grimaldi, Rosa, 2023. "I wasn't expecting that: How engaging with digital platforms can turn leisure passion into entrepreneurial aspirations," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    15. John C. Dencker & Marc Gruber & Sonali K. Shah, 2009. "Pre-Entry Knowledge, Learning, and the Survival of New Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 516-537, June.
    16. William R. Kerr & Ramana Nanda, 2009. "Financing Constraints and Entrepreneurship," Harvard Business School Working Papers 10-013, Harvard Business School.
    17. Marc Gruber & Ian C. MacMillan & James D. Thompson, 2008. "Look Before You Leap: Market Opportunity Identification in Emerging Technology Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(9), pages 1652-1665, September.
    18. Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner, 2001. "The Venture Capital Revolution," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 145-168, Spring.
    19. Staniewski, Marcin W. & Awruk, Katarzyna, 2019. "Entrepreneurial success and achievement motivation – A preliminary report on a validation study of the questionnaire of entrepreneurial success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 433-440.
    20. Gompers, Paul A., 1996. "Grandstanding in the venture capital industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 133-156, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dolbec, Pierre-Yann & Smith, Andrew N., 2025. "From fame and followers to fortune: How person-brands capture value in the creator economy," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 1264-1283.
    2. Fraccastoro, Dr Sara & Vanninen, Dr Heini & Gabrielsson, Prof Mika, 2025. "Two decades of research on digitalization, entrepreneurship, and internationalization: What foundations do they provide for research on digital entrepreneurial internationalization?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vera Rocha & Luca Grilli, 2024. "Early-stage start-up hiring: the interplay between start-ups’ initial resources and innovation orientation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1641-1668, April.
    2. Barak Libai & Ana Babić Rosario & Maximilian Beichert & Bas Donkers & Michael Haenlein & Reto Hofstetter & P. K. Kannan & Ralf Lans & Andreas Lanz & H. Alice Li & Dina Mayzlin & Eitan Muller & Daniel , 2025. "Influencer marketing unlocked: Understanding the value chains driving the creator economy," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 4-28, January.
    3. Mayer-Haug, Katrin & Read, Stuart & Brinckmann, Jan & Dew, Nicholas & Grichnik, Dietmar, 2013. "Entrepreneurial talent and venture performance: A meta-analytic investigation of SMEs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1251-1273.
    4. Chwolka, Anne & Raith, Matthias G., 2012. "The value of business planning before start-up — A decision-theoretical perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 385-399.
    5. Carolin Bock & Maximilian Schmidt, 2015. "Should I stay, or should I go? – How fund dynamics influence venture capital exit decisions," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 68-82, November.
    6. Fatima Shuwaikh & Souad Brinette & Sabrina Khemiri & Rita Grego De Castro, 2024. "Venture capital activities under uncertainty: US and UK investors behavior," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 334(1), pages 885-917, March.
    7. Lohwasser, Todor S., 2020. "Meta-analyzing the relative performance of venture capital-backed firms," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 4/2020, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    8. Galina Shirokova & Nailya Galieva & Joshua V. White & Diana Doktorova, 2024. "Narcissism, workaholism, family support and new venture performance: a moderated mediation model," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 379-419, June.
    9. Ting-Kai Chou & Jia-Chi Cheng & Chin-Chen Chien, 2013. "How useful is venture capital prestige? Evidence from IPO survivability," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 843-863, May.
    10. Anokhin, Sergey & Morgan, Todd & Schulze, William & Wuebker, Robert, 2022. "Is a reputation for misconduct harmful? Evidence from corporate venture capital," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 65-76.
    11. Megginson, William L. & Meles, Antonio & Sampagnaro, Gabriele & Verdoliva, Vincenzo, 2019. "Financial distress risk in initial public offerings: How much do venture capitalists matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 10-30.
    12. Zafar, Abaid Ullah & Shahzad, Mohsin & Ashfaq, Muhammad & Shahzad, Khuram, 2023. "Forecasting impulsive consumers driven by macro-influencers posts: Intervention of followers' flow state and perceived informativeness," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    13. Per Davidsson & Jan Henrik Gruenhagen, 2021. "Fulfilling the Process Promise: A Review and Agenda for New Venture Creation Process Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1083-1118, September.
    14. Manju Puri & Rebecca Zarutskie, 2012. "On the Life Cycle Dynamics of Venture-Capital- and Non-Venture-Capital-Financed Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(6), pages 2247-2293, December.
    15. Anna Long & Matthew S. Wood & Daniel L. Bennett, 2023. "Entrepreneurial organizing activities and nascent venture performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 433-461, February.
    16. Songcui Hu & Qian (Cecilia) Gu & Jun Xia, 2022. "Problemistic Search of the Embedded Firm: The Joint Effects of Performance Feedback and Network Positions on Venture Capital Firms’ Risk Taking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(5), pages 1889-1908, September.
    17. Fan, Terence & Schwab, Andreas & Geng, Xuesong, 2021. "Habitual entrepreneurship in digital platform ecosystems: A time-contingent model of learning from prior software project experiences," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(5).
    18. José Martí Pellón & Marina Balboa, 2003. "Characterisation Of The Reputation Of Private Equity Managers: Evidence In Spain," Working Papers. Serie EC 2003-16, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    19. Weiger, Welf H. & Giertz, Johann N. & Hammerschmidt, Maik & Hollebeek, Linda D., 2025. "Blurred lines? Disentangling the roles of consumers’ influencer- and brand engagement in shaping brand performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    20. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross & Michalopoulos, Stelios, 2015. "Financial innovation and endogenous growth," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-24.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:41:y:2024:i:3:p:436-454. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-research-in-marketing/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.