Volume 8, Issue 1 -

Many business incubators aim to provide network resources and to stimulate the sharing of ideas, but previous research has shown that limited knowledge exchange takes place between incubated firms. In this paper, we examine if an entrepreneurial approach of causation vs. effectuation is associated with the proclivity to share ideas between firms and the perceived value of such inter-tenant network resources. A causation approach implies that entrepreneurs focus on a predefined goal and then aim to find the means to reach this goal. An effectuation approach implies that entrepreneurs focus on the means at hand, which they aim to materialize into one or more goals that were not necessarily predefined. We carry out a multiple case study of start-ups in a business incubator and find that entrepreneurs taking an effectuation approach have a proclivity to share ideas and they perceive such network resources as having a high value. Entrepreneurs taking a causation approach, on the other hand, have limited proclivity to share ideas with other incubator firms and they perceive such network resources as having a relatively low value. The findings are striking since many incubators implicitly or explicitly tend to recruit firms taking a causation approach by selecting candidates with a rigorous and predefined business plan. We discuss the findings’ implications for incubator recruiting policy and management.

How the exposure to role models and entrepreneurship education shape perceptions and attitudes toward entrepreneurship differently in men and women is analyzed in the context of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. To this end, structural equation modeling is applied to data from a sample of 338 final-year undergraduates. The results show that external factors seem to be more critical in the case of women to generate entrepreneurial behavior. In particular, exposure to parental role models has a significantly more favorable influence on attitude toward entrepreneurship in women than men, and exposure to entrepreneurship education has a greater effect over their perceived entrepreneurial behavior control in women than in men.

This study examines the effect of investment by universities on student entrepreneurial activities, with an emphasis on the mediating effect of educational support. The effectiveness of university support on students’ entrepreneurial aspirations and motivations has long been of interest to researchers; however, the outcomes of previous studies are inconclusive. These studies mostly used survey data from a fraction of universities in a given country. To treat this topic more comprehensively, we empirically analyze how university support of entrepreneurial activities affects the number of student founders using a nationwide panel data set annually collected by a government agency in South Korea. Our findings suggest a significant and positive effect of university investment in entrepreneurship on the number of student founders. Differential mediating effects are observed according to the type of educational support. The results of this study may provide guidance in policy development for university and college educators in the form of a few recommendations for policymakers based on an understanding of the effectiveness of investments related to entrepreneurial activities.

Prior literatures have argued that the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance may be not as straightforward as expected. With EO–performance contingency framework, this study investigates how product quality mediates the relationship between EO and firm performance. Using survey data from 153 new ventures, we find that EO dimensions have non-uniform and non-linear, rather than merely linear, relationships with product quality. Specifically, the results reveal that innovativeness and autonomy may lead to superior product quality, however, risk-taking would decrease, not increase, product quality. Proactiveness has U-shaped, not inverse U-shaped, effect on product quality and competitive aggressiveness has U-shaped, not positive linear, effect on product quality. Our results enrich the EO-performance contingency framework and highlight the significance of concerning independent and unique effects of individual EO dimension.