IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v167y2023ics0148296323005143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unraveling the effect of pre-entry knowledge of founders on experimentation in nascent industries: A configurational approach

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Hyeonsuh

Abstract

This study examines the influence of founders’ pre-entry knowledge on the intensity of experimentation that their ventures undertake. To address this question, this study adopts a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) coupled with an inductive case-oriented analysis to identify multiple configurations leading to the outcome and uncover the underpinning mechanisms. Overall, this study reveals that founders’ different pre-entry knowledge leads to unique knowledge gaps and comparative advantages, which in turn guide their experimentation. Also, by exploring the distinct types of uncertainty faced by entrepreneurs, this study sheds light on the different knowledge domains founders prioritize in their experiments. By exploring the complex relationships between pre-entry knowledge, founding team composition, perceived uncertainty, and experimentation intensity, this study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature and emphasizes the critical role of these factors in shaping the experimentation intensity of entrepreneurial ventures.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Hyeonsuh, 2023. "Unraveling the effect of pre-entry knowledge of founders on experimentation in nascent industries: A configurational approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:167:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323005143
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114155
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323005143
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114155?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francine Lafontaine & Kathryn Shaw, 2016. "Serial Entrepreneurship: Learning by Doing?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 217-254.
    2. Bart Clarysse & Mike Wright & Els Van de Velde, 2011. "Entrepreneurial Origin, Technological Knowledge, and the Growth of Spin‐Off Companies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48, pages 1420-1442, September.
    3. Weijan Shan & Gordon Walker & Bruce Kogut, 1994. "Interfirm cooperation and startup innovation in the biotechnology industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 387-394, June.
    4. Rainer Harms & Mario Schwery, 2020. "Lean Startup: Operationalizing Lean Startup Capability and testing its performance implications," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(1), pages 200-223, January.
    5. Sonali K. Shah & Rajshree Agarwal & Raj Echambadi, 2019. "Jewels in the crown: Exploring the motivations and team building processes of employee entrepreneurs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(9), pages 1417-1452, September.
    6. Duchesneau, Donald A. & Gartner, William B., 1990. "A profile of new venture success and failure in an emerging industry," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 5(5), pages 297-312, September.
    7. Arnaldo Camuffo & Alessandro Cordova & Alfonso Gambardella & Chiara Spina, 2020. "A Scientific Approach to Entrepreneurial Decision Making: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 564-586, February.
    8. Baldwin, Carliss & Hienerth, Christoph & von Hippel, Eric, 2006. "How user innovations become commercial products: A theoretical investigation and case study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1291-1313, November.
    9. Robinson, Peter B. & Sexton, Edwin A., 1994. "The effect of education and experience on self-employment success," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 141-156, March.
    10. Mariko Sakakibara & Natarajan Balasubramanian, 2020. "Human capital, parent size, and the destination industry of spinouts," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 815-840, May.
    11. Dean A. Shepherd & Marc Gruber, 2021. "The Lean Startup Framework: Closing the Academic–Practitioner Divide," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 967-998, September.
    12. Robert A. Baron & Michael D. Ensley, 2006. "Opportunity Recognition as the Detection of Meaningful Patterns: Evidence from Comparisons of Novice and Experienced Entrepreneurs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(9), pages 1331-1344, September.
    13. Nathan Rosenberg, 2009. "Uncertainty and Technological Change," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Studies On Science And The Innovation Process Selected Works of Nathan Rosenberg, chapter 8, pages 153-172, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Jianwen Liao & Harold Welsch, 2005. "Roles of Social Capital in Venture Creation: Key Dimensions and Research Implications," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 345-362, October.
    15. Mahka Moeen & Rajshree Agarwal & Sonali K. Shah, 2020. "Building Industries by Building Knowledge: Uncertainty Reduction over Industry Milestones," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(3), pages 218-244, September.
    16. Seth Carnahan & Rajshree Agarwal & Benjamin A. Campbell, 2012. "Heterogeneity in turnover: the effect of relative compensation dispersion of firms on the mobility and entrepreneurship of extreme performers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(12), pages 1411-1430, December.
    17. Benjamin A. Campbell & Martin Ganco & April M. Franco & Rajshree Agarwal, 2012. "Who leaves, where to, and why worry? employee mobility, entrepreneurship and effects on source firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 65-87, January.
    18. Pamela D. Morrison & John H. Roberts & Eric von Hippel, 2000. "Determinants of User Innovation and Innovation Sharing in a Local Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(12), pages 1513-1527, December.
    19. Martin Ganco, 2013. "Cutting the Gordian knot: The effect of knowledge complexity on employee mobility and entrepreneurship," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(6), pages 666-686, June.
    20. William R. Kerr & Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, 2014. "Entrepreneurship as Experimentation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 25-48, Summer.
    21. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    22. Gompers, Paul & Kovner, Anna & Lerner, Josh & Scharfstein, David, 2010. "Performance persistence in entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 18-32, April.
    23. Aaron K. Chatterji, 2009. "Spawned with a silver spoon? Entrepreneurial performance and innovation in the medical device industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 185-206, February.
    24. Kyle C. Longest & Stephen Vaisey, 2008. "fuzzy: A program for performing qualitative comparative analyses (QCA) in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(1), pages 79-104, February.
    25. Douglas, Evan J. & Shepherd, Dean A. & Prentice, Catherine, 2020. "Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis for a finer-grained understanding of entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1).
    26. Nicholls-Nixon, Charlene L. & Cooper, Arnold C. & Woo, Carolyn Y., 2000. "Strategic experimentation: Understanding change and performance in new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 493-521.
    27. Frédéric Delmar & Scott Shane, 2006. "Does Experience Matter? : The Effect of Founding Team Experience on the Survival and Sales of Newly Founded Ventures," Post-Print hal-02311638, HAL.
    28. 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.
    29. Eric von Hippel, 1998. "Economics of Product Development by Users: The Impact of "Sticky" Local Information," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(5), pages 629-644, May.
    30. Joshua S. Gans & Scott Stern & Jane Wu, 2019. "Foundations of entrepreneurial strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 736-756, May.
    31. Shepherd, Dean A. & Douglas, Evan J. & Shanley, Mark, 2000. "New venture survival: Ignorance, external shocks, and risk reduction strategies," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 393-410.
    32. Carroll, Glenn R. & Mosakowski, Elaine M., 1987. "The Career Dynamics of Self-Employment," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt13p1n10b, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    33. Chowdhury, Sanjib, 2005. "Demographic diversity for building an effective entrepreneurial team: is it important?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 727-746, November.
    34. Parker, Simon C., 2013. "Do serial entrepreneurs run successively better-performing businesses?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 652-666.
    35. Paolo Aversa & Santi Furnari & Stefan Haefliger, 2015. "Editor's Choice Business model configurations and performance: A qualitative comparative analysis in Formula One racing, 2005–2013," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(3), pages 655-676.
    36. Jacqueline Kirtley & Siobhan O'Mahony, 2023. "What is a pivot? Explaining when and how entrepreneurial firms decide to make strategic change and pivot," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 197-230, January.
    37. Junfu Zhang, 2011. "The advantage of experienced start-up founders in venture capital acquisition: evidence from serial entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 187-208, February.
    38. Nathan R. Furr, 2019. "Product Adaptation During New Industry Emergence: The Role of Start-Up Team Preentry Experience," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(5), pages 1076-1096, September.
    39. Robin De Cock & Johan Bruneel & Annelies Bobelyn, 2020. "Making the lean start-up method work: The role of prior market knowledge," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(5), pages 975-1002, September.
    40. Renko, Maija & Yli-Renko, Helena & Denoo, Lien, 2022. "Sold, not bought: Market orientation and technology as drivers of acquisitions of private biotechnology ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1).
    41. 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.
    42. Wagemann, Claudius & Buche, Jonas & Siewert, Markus B., 2016. "QCA and business research: Work in progress or a consolidated agenda?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2531-2540.
    43. Agarwal, Rajshree & Shah, Sonali K., 2014. "Knowledge sources of entrepreneurship: Firm formation by academic, user and employee innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1109-1133.
    44. Cope, Jason, 2011. "Entrepreneurial learning from failure: An interpretative phenomenological analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 604-623.
    45. Sandeep D. Pillai & Brent Goldfarb & David A. Kirsch, 2020. "The origins of firm strategy: Learning by economic experimentation and strategic pivots in the early automobile industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 369-399, March.
    46. Toft-Kehler, Rasmus & Wennberg, Karl & Kim, Phillip H., 2014. "Practice makes perfect: Entrepreneurial-experience curves and venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 453-470.
    47. Kathleen M. Eisenhardt & Christopher B. Bingham, 2017. "Superior Strategy in Entrepreneurial Settings: Thinking, Doing, and the Logic of Opportunity," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(4), pages 246-257, December.
    48. Cooper, Arnold C. & Gimeno-Gascon, F. Javier & Woo, Carolyn Y., 1994. "Initial human and financial capital as predictors of new venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 371-395, September.
    49. Charles E. Eesley & David H. Hsu & Edward B. Roberts, 2014. "The contingent effects of top management teams on venture performance: Aligning founding team composition with innovation strategy and commercialization environment," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1798-1817, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Amrita Lahiri & Anu Wadhwa, 2021. "When do serial entrepreneurs found innovative ventures? Evidence from patent data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1973-1993, December.
    2. Rocha, Vera & Pozzoli, Dario, 2021. "Give it Another Shot: Startup Experience and the Mobilization of Human Resources in New Ventures," Working Papers 11-2021, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    3. Pamela Adams & Roberto Fontana & Franco Malerba, 2016. "User-Industry Spinouts: Downstream Industry Knowledge as a Source of New Firm Entry and Survival," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 18-35, February.
    4. Louise Lindbjerg & Theodor Vladasel, 2021. "Hiring Entrepreneurs for Innovation," Working Papers 1309, Barcelona School of Economics.
    5. Andries, Petra & Clarysse, Bart & Costa, Sergio, 2021. "Technology ventures' engagement of external actors in the search for viable market applications: On the relevance of Technology Broadcasting and Systematic Validation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    6. Wu, Shuai, 2023. "Impact of serial entrepreneurs on IPO valuation: Evidence from U.S. IPOs," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Ko, Eun-Jeong & McKelvie, Alexander, 2018. "Signaling for more money: The roles of founders' human capital and investor prominence in resource acquisition across different stages of firm development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 438-454.
    8. Anavir Shermon & Mahka Moeen, 2022. "Zooming in or zooming out: Entrants' product portfolios in the nascent drone industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(11), pages 2217-2252, November.
    9. Gambardella, Alfonso & Camuffo, Arnaldo & Spina, Chiara, 2020. "Small Changes with Big Impact: Experimental Evidence of a Scientific Approach to the Decision-Making of Entrepreneurial Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 14909, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Ajay Agrawal & Joshua S. Gans & Scott Stern, 2021. "Enabling Entrepreneurial Choice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5510-5524, September.
    11. Criaco, Giuseppe & van Oosterhout, J. (Hans) & Nordqvist, Mattias, 2021. "Is blood always thicker than water? Family firm parents, kinship ties, and the survival of spawns," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    12. Patel, Pankaj C. & Tsionas, Mike & Oghazi, Pejvak & Izquierdo, Vanessa, 2022. "No entrepreneur steps in the same river twice: Limited learning advantage for serial entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1038-1052.
    13. Cheng Shu & Sharon A. Simmons, 2018. "Firm survival in traded industries: does localization moderate the effects of founding team experience?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 643-655, March.
    14. Bahoo-Torodi, Aliasghar & Torrisi, Salvatore, 2022. "When do spinouts benefit from market overlap with parent firms?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    15. Mariko Sakakibara & Natarajan Balasubramanian, 2020. "Human capital, parent size, and the destination industry of spinouts," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 815-840, May.
    16. Domurath, Anne & Patzelt, Holger & Liebl, Andreas, 2020. "Does negative feedback impact new ventures' organizational identity? The role of founding teams' human capital and feedback source," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    17. Stijn Kelchtermans & Francesca Melillo, 2023. "Taking a Full Career Perspective on the Formation of Co-Founding Teams," GREDEG Working Papers 2023-22, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    18. Sahaym, Arvin & Howard, Michael D. & Basu, Sandip & Boeker, Warren, 2016. "The parent's legacy: Firm founders and technological choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2624-2633.
    19. Agarwal, Rajshree & Shah, Sonali K., 2014. "Knowledge sources of entrepreneurship: Firm formation by academic, user and employee innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1109-1133.
    20. Salisu Isyaku, 2014. "Mediating Effect of Uncertainty Avoidance on the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Talent and SMEs Performance in Nigeria: A Conceptual Analysis," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 4(6), pages 368-383, June.

    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:jbrese:v:167:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323005143. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    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.