scholarly journals New ventures: how team motivation affects financial outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Debrulle ◽  
Johan Maes ◽  
Elliroma Gardiner

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding the impact of entrepreneurial team composition on new venture performance. Different types of entrepreneurship motivation among founding team members are defined. Using a relatively recent theory as a framework (i.e. self-determination theory), the authors group these motives into two categories: autonomous and controlled motivation. The business impact of the level of each type of motivation within the team, as well as the impact of having team members with different motivational drivers, is examined. New venture performance is modelled in two different ways: financial performance (i.e. return on assets) and innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach The analyses are based on 66 founding teams active in diverse activity sectors. The teams represent a total of 142 business founders. Data was collected through structured interviews, a company questionnaire and a secondary data source (i.e. certified financial statements). Findings The results confirm that the level of autonomous motivation within the team contributes to start-up financial performance, whereas the level of controlled motivation hampers innovation performance. No direct effects of diversity of team member motivation on start-up performance were discovered. Originality/value This is one of the first papers to study multiple firm performance effects of the composition of entrepreneurial founding teams in terms of motivation.

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Watson ◽  
Michael Stuetzer ◽  
Roxanne Zolin

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of an owner’s growth goal on the relationship between the gender of new venture owners and the growth outcomes of their ventures. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study using a large, national database and structural equation modeling. Findings The findings indicate that the negative relationship between gender and growth outcomes is fully mediated by the growth goals of new venture owners, their available internal resources and the amount of time and money they are able (prepared) to invest in their new venture. Research limitations/implications The research implications include the need to better understand the impact of goal setting on new venture performance outcomes. Practical implications The government policies (for example, to stimulate firm growth) need to be designed by having a proper understanding of the various motives/goals that entrepreneurs might have when launching a new venture. Similarly, anyone providing advice to individuals involved in establishing a new venture should, before providing that advice, ensure that they have a clear understanding of the individual’s goals. Social implications Social implications include a need to better understand the negative impact that lower available human and financial capital can have on the goals set by female new venture owners and the outcomes achieved by those ventures. Originality/value This research makes an original contribution to the literature by demonstrating: the impact of gender on human, social and financial capital; the influence of these resources on new venture goals; and, in turn, the influence of goals on new venture performance outcomes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 727-747
Author(s):  
Wenqing Wu ◽  
Hongxin Wang ◽  
Fu-Sheng Tsai

PurposeThis study analyses the relationship between the networks of business incubators (BIs) and new venture performance. It proposes an integrated model for identifying the influence of BIs' internal and external networks on new venture performance through the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and environmental dynamism.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses multiple regression analysis on a sample of 205 new ventures in Chinese BIs.FindingsBoth the internal and external networks of BIs positively affect new venture performance and EO has a mediating effect in this relationship. Environmental dynamism plays a positive moderating role in the relationship between BIs' internal and external networks and EO.Practical implicationsBased on the results of this study, incubator managers should focus on creating internal and external networks and leveraging network embeddedness to influence new venture performance. Further, new ventures should focus on strengthening their EO and fully consider the impact of environmental dynamism on EO implementation.Originality/valueTo address the research gaps in understanding how BI networks can support new venture growth, this study integrates BIs' internal and external networks and explores their impacts on new venture performance using co-production theory and the resource-based view. It thus opens the black box on how BI's networks affect performance from the EO perspective. Moreover, this study fully clarifies chain relationships by identifying and analysing the moderating role of environmental dynamism.


Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1407-1428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihui Xia ◽  
Biao Luo ◽  
Ying Sun

Purpose This paper aims to explore the mediating role of organizational entrepreneurial capability in the link between entrepreneurs’ effectuation and new venture performance, and whether entrepreneurs’ passion positively moderates this relationship in the Chinese emerging economy. Design/methodology/approach This study collected survey data from 140 Chinese new ventures. Following an empirical design, hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping analysis were applied to examine six hypotheses. Findings Results reveal that organizational entrepreneurial capability plays a positively mediating role in the association between entrepreneurs’ effectuation and new venture performance. Moreover, the whole mediation model is positively moderated by entrepreneurs’ passion, not only the association but also between entrepreneurs’ effectuation and organizational entrepreneurial capability. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to the static relationships between key variables using the data obtained at one point in an emerging economy, which cannot investigate the dynamic evolution between variables. More longitudinal designs or cases to track the dynamic association should be considered. Practical implications The findings provide useful suggestions for entrepreneurs to enhance their effectual logic and entrepreneurs’ passion to better perceive and exploit opportunities and further improve new venture performance. The results also provide guidance for other groups, such as angel investors and policymakers, regarding how to use effectuation logic as an evaluation criterion to judge whether a new venture or program has investment potential. Originality/value These findings enrich the effectuation theory by providing the empirical evidence of the effect of entrepreneurs’ effectuation on new venture performance in an emerging economy. They also provide deeper insights into opportunity research by uncovering the mediating role of organizational entrepreneurial capability in the relationship between entrepreneurs’ effectuation and new venture performance.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Li Zhao

The study investigated how founders' personality traits impact Chinese apparel new venture performance. An online survey was conducted using founders' personality traits, the quality of firm network relationships, perceived competitive advantages, and perceived Chinese apparel new venture performance scales. Grounded in Barney's (1991) resource-based view of the firm, the study findings were expected to provide further evidence of the importance of the relationship between founders' personality traits and the quality of a firm's network relationships and, in turn, the impact on Chinese apparel new venture success. The findings may help people who are interested in starting new ventures in the Chinese apparel industry manage external network relationships that are critical for new venture success. Furthermore, the research findings would improve academic understanding of the Chinese apparel industry. Supply chain partners could also utilize these findings to make appropriate strategies for improving relationships with Chinese apparel new ventures to cope with the critical business challenges of globalization and collaboration.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Noack ◽  
Douglas R. Miller ◽  
Rebecca Guidice

PurposeThis paper brings in relevant entrepreneurial behavior theory to understand the ownership decisions founders make during the nascent stage of new venture creation, and how such decisions impact the viability of the firm.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the behavior and decision making of 137 lead founders during the nascent stage of new venture creation. Psychological ownership and environmental uncertainty are measured of lead founders when dividing up firm ownership among the founding team. Using a longitudinal approach, these nascent-stage decisions are then analyzed to understand the impact on the new venture one year later.FindingsCounter to prior research suggesting teams are better off with identical wages and ownership, the authors find such harmony (i.e. “kumbaya”) pursuit to be a detriment to new venture emergence. Specifically, this study finds that nascent ventures are better off with an unequal ownership split among the founding team members. These findings suggest that nascent firms with an unequal split are more likely to move beyond the nascent stage and launch a functional business.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the results of this study offer a valuable contribution to lead founders and new businesses, the study looked at each startup independent of another and is therefore not able to draw any conclusions related to competitiveness.Practical implicationsLead founders and founding teams frequently divide ownership evenly among the founders. This paper shows that, while convenient, the decision to divide ownership equally can hamper a nascent firm as it moves toward the launch phase of the startup process. These results should motivate founders to think deeply regarding the ownership structure decision and, at the very least, consider the possible negative costs associated with the pursuit of founding team unity.Originality/valueWhile scholars have brought attention to the nascent stage, few have identified and analyzed the decisions that take place during this critical time of the new venture development process. Furthermore, even is less is known of the impact nascent decisions have on startup launch. This study sheds light on these areas.


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