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A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing: Entrepreneurial experience and new venture disengagement

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  • Toft-Kehler, Rasmus Vendler
  • Wennberg, Karl
  • Kim, Phillip H.

Abstract

Existing research has offered conflicting narratives of how entrepreneurial experience influences whether founders will continue working on or disengage from their ventures. We theorize and test how entrepreneurs with varying levels of experience disengage from early-stage companies. Findings reveal a U-shaped relationship, such that novices and highly experienced entrepreneurs are more likely to quit their ventures, while moderately experienced entrepreneurs are more likely to persist in their pursuits. We offer both theoretical and empirical explanations for how the propensity to disengage from new ventures evolves with entrepreneurial experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Toft-Kehler, Rasmus Vendler & Wennberg, Karl & Kim, Phillip H., 2016. "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing: Entrepreneurial experience and new venture disengagement," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 36-46.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:6:y:2016:i:c:p:36-46
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2016.10.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Shahid, Pirzada Syed Rizwan, 2023. "Founder's Human Capital and the Entrepreneurial Process Duration," OSF Preprints yf6mg, Center for Open Science.
    3. Klyver, Kim & Steffens, Paul & Lomberg, Carina, 2020. "Having your cake and eating it too? A two-stage model of the impact of employment and parallel job search on hybrid nascent entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(5).
    4. 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).
    5. Singaram, Raja & Radu-Lefebvre, Miruna & Gartner, William B., 2023. "Gordian knot uncut: Understanding the problem of founder exit in social ventures," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    6. George Bogdan Drăgan & Andrei Alexandru Panait & George Cristian Schin, 2022. "Tracking precursors of entrepreneurial intention: the case of researchers involved in eco-label industry," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1605-1622, December.
    7. Thapa, Nischal, 2020. "Being cognizant of the amount of information: Curvilinear relationship between total-information and funding-success of crowdfunding campaigns," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).

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