Nascent entrepreneurship and the developing individual: Early entrepreneurial competence in adolescence and venture creation success during the career

Obschonka, Martin and Silbereisen, Rainer K. and Schmitt-Rodermund, Eva and Stuetzer, Michael (2010): Nascent entrepreneurship and the developing individual: Early entrepreneurial competence in adolescence and venture creation success during the career. Published in: Journal of Vocational Behavior , Vol. 79, No. 1 (2011): pp. 121-133.

Abstract

What predicts a person's venture creation success over the course of the career, such as making progress in the venture creation process and multiple successful venture creations? Applying a life span approach of human development, this study examined the effect of early entrepreneurial competence in adolescence, which was gathered retrospectively by means of the Life History Calendar method. Human and social capitals during the founding process were investigated as mediators between adolescent competence and performance. Findings were derived from regression analyses on the basis of prospective and retrospective data from two independent samples (N=88 nascent founders; N=148 founders). We found that early entrepreneurial competence in adolescence had a positive effect on making progress in the venture creation process. Nascent founders' current human and social capital also had a direct effect, but it did not mediate the effect of early competences. Finally, the data revealed that early entrepreneurial competence in adolescence positively predicted habitual entrepreneurship (multiple successful venture creations) exhibited over a longer period of the individual career (specifically, 18 years). In linewith the results fromprospective longitudinal studies on early precursors of entrepreneurship, our findings underscore the long neglected importance of adolescent development in the explanation of entrepreneurial performance during the subsequent working life.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Nascent entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial success; Adolescent competence; Venture creation; Human and social capital; Habitual entrepreneurship
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L26 - Entrepreneurship; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M1 - Business Administration > M13 - New Firms ; Startups

References

[1] R. Hisrich, J. Langan-Fox, S. Grant, Entrepreneurship research and practice: A call to action for psychology, Am. Psychol. 62 (2007) 575-589.

[2] D.B. Audretsch, The entrepreneurial society, Oxford University Press, New York, 2007.

[3] K. Mahbubani, The new Asian hemisphere, PublicAffairs, New York, 2008.

[4] N. F. Krueger, What lies beneath? The experiential essence of entrepreneurial thinking, Entrep. Theory Pract. 31 (2007) 123-138.

[5] R.A. Baron, The cognitive perspective: A valuable tool for answering entrepreneurship's basic “why” questions, J. Bus. Ventur. 19 (2004) 221-239.

[6] S.D. Sarasvathy, Causation and effectuation: Toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency, Acad. Manage. Rev. 26 (2001) 243-263.

[7] W.B. Gartner, “Who is an entrepreneur?” is the wrong question, Entrep. Theory Pract. 12 (1988) 11-32.

[8] R.J. Sternberg, Successful intelligence as a basis for entrepreneurship. J. Bus. Ventur. 19 (2004) 189-201.

[9] T.W. Schultz, Investment in entrepreneurial ability, Scand. J. Econ. 82 (1980) 437-448.

[10] J.M. Unger, A. Rauch, M. Frese, N. Rosenbusch, Human capital and entrepreneurial success: A meta-analytical review, J. Bus. Ventur. (in press).

[11] P.H. Kim, H.E. Aldrich, Social capital and entrepreneurship, Found. Trends Entrep. 1 (2005) 55-104.

[12] G.N. Chandler, S.H. Hanks, Founder competence, the environment, and venture performance, Entrep. Theory Pract. 18 (1994) 77-89.

[13] R.J. Baum, E.A. Locke, The relationship of entrepreneurial traits, skill, and motivation to subsequent venture growth, J. Appl. Psychol. 89 (2004) 587-598.

[14] J. Brüderl, P. Preisendörfer, R. Ziegler, Survival chances of newly founded business organizations, Am. Sociol. Rev. 57 (1992) 227-242.

[15] M. Frese, S.I. Krauss, N. Keith, S. Escher, R. Grabarkiewicz, S.T. Luneng, et al., Business owners` action planning and its relationship to business success in three African countries, J. Appl. Psychol. 92 (2007) 1481-1498.

[16] P. Davidsson, B. Honig, The role of social and human capital among nascent Entrepreneurs, J. Bus. Ventur. 18 (2003) 301-331.

[17] P.D. Reynolds, New firm creation in the United States – A PSED I overview, Found. Trends Entrep. 3 (2007) 1-150.

[18] M. Samuelsson, P. Davidsson, Does venture opportunity variation matter? Investigating systematic differences between innovative and imitative new ventures, Small Bus. Econ. 33 (2009) 229-255.

[19] O. Falck, S. Heblich, E. Luedemann, Identity and entrepreneurship: Do school peers shape entrepreneurial intentions?, Small Bus. Econ. (in press).

[20] E. Schmitt-Rodermund, Pathways to successful entrepreneurship: Parenting, personality, entrepreneurial competence, and interests, J. Vocat. Behav. 65 (2004) 498-518.

[21] E. Schmitt-Rodermund, The long way to entrepreneurship: Personality, parenting, early interests, and competencies as precursors for entrepreneurial activity among the ‘Termites’, in: R.K. Silbereisen, R.M. Lerner (Eds.), Approaches to positive youth development, Sage, London, 2007, pp. 205-224.

[22] Z. Zhang, R.D. Arvey, Rule breaking in adolescence and entrepreneurial status: An empirical investigation, J. Bus. Ventur. 24 (2009) 436-447.

[23] P.B. Baltes, U. Lindenberger, U. Staudinger, Life span theory in developmental psychology, in: R.M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2006, pp. 569-664.

[24] L.A. Sroufe, & M. Rutter, The domain of developmental psychopathology, Child Dev. 55 (1984) 17-29.

[25] E.E. Werner, The children of Kauai: Resiliency and recovery in adolescence and adulthood, J. Adolesc. Health 13 (1992) 262-268.

[26] J.H. Laub, R.J. Sampson, Shared beginnings, divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2003.

[27] T.E. Moffitt, Life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy, Psychol. Rev. 100 (1993) 674-701.

[28] G.H. Elder Jr., Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course, Soc. Psychol. Q. 57 (1994) 4-15.

[29] R.K. Silbereisen, X. Chen (Eds.), Human development and social change, Sage, London, 2010.

[30] J.J. Heckman, Skill formation and the economics of investing in disadvantaged children, Science 312 (2006) 1900-1902.

[31] D.E. Super, A life-span, life-space approach to career development, J. Vocat. Behav. 16 (1980) 282-298.

[32] F.W. Vondracek, R.M. Lerner, J.E. Schulenberg, Career development: A life-span developmental approach, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1986.

[33] D.C. McClelland, The achieving society, Van Nostrand, Princeton, NJ, 1961.

[34] World Economic Forum, Educating the next wave of entrepreneurs: Unlocking entrepreneurial capabilities to meet the global challenges of the 21st century, World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland, 2009.

[35] P. Davidsson, S.R. Gordon, Nascent entrepreneur(ship) research: A review, Manuscript submitted for publication.

[36] G.A. Alsos, L. Kolvereid, The business gestation process of novice, serial and parallel business founders, Entrep. Theory Pract. 22 (1998) 101-114.

[37] D. Ucbasaran, G.A. Alsos, P. Westhead, M. Wright, Habitual entrepreneurs, Found. rends Entrep. 4 (2008) 309-450.

[38] P. Davidsson, Method challenges and opportunities in the psychological study of entrepreneurship, in: R. Baum, M. Frese, R. Baron (Eds.), The psychology of entrepreneurship, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 2007, pp. 287-323.

[39] S.D. Sarasvathy, The question we ask and the question we care about: Reformulating some problems in entrepreneurship research. J. Bus. Ventur. 19 (2004) 707-717.

[40] A. Caspi, T.E. Moffitt, A. Thornton, D. Freedman, J.W. Amell, H. Harrington, et al., The Life History Calendar: A research and clinical assessment method for collecting retrospective event-history data, Int. J. Methods Psychiat. Res. 6 (1996) 101-114.

[41] F.R. Belli, E.H. Lee, F.P. Stafford, C. Chou, Calendar and question-list survey methods: Association between interviewer behaviors and data quality, J. Off. Stat. 20 (2004) 185-218.

[42] W.B. Gartner, Words lead to deeds: Towards an organizational emergence vocabulary. J. Bus. Ventur. 8 (1993) 231-239.

[43] N.M. Carter, W.B. Gartner, P.D. Reynolds, Exploring start-up event sequences, J. Bus. Ventur. 11 (1996) 151-166.

[44] S.A. Shane, F. Delmar, Planning for the market: Business planning before marketing and the continuation of organizing efforts, J. Bus. Ventur. 19 (2004) 767-785.

[45] C.G. Brush, L.F. Edelman, T.S. Manolova, The effect of initial location, aspirations, and resources on likelihood of first sale in nascent firms, J. Small Bus. Manage. 46 (2008) 159-182.

[46] R.J. Havighurst, Developmental tasks and education, third ed., David McKay Company, New York, 1972.

[47] M. Obschonka, R.K. Silbereisen, E. Schmitt-Rodermund, Entrepreneurial intention as developmental outcome, J. Vocat. Behav. 77 (2010) 63-72.

[48] M. Obschonka, R.K. Silbereisen, E. Schmitt-Rodermund, Successful entrepreneurship as developmental outcome: A path model from a life span perspective of human development, Eur. Psychol. (in press).

[49] G.S. Becker, Human capital, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1964.

[50] M. Obschonka, R.K. Silbereisen, E. Schmitt-Rodermund, Explaining entrepreneurial behavior: Dispositional personality traits, growth of personal entrepreneurial resources, and business idea generation, Career Dev. Q. (in press).

[51] A. Caspi, G.H. Elder Jr., D.J. Bem, Moving against the world: Life-course patterns of explosive children, Dev. Psychol. 23 (1987) 308-313.

[52] B.W. Roberts, A. Caspi, T.E. Moffitt, Work experience and personality development in young adulthood, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 84 (2003) 582-593.

[53] J.S. Clausen, Adolescent competence and the shaping of the life course, Am. J. Sociol. 96 (1991) 805-842.

[54] M. Granovetter, The strength of weak ties, Am. J. Sociol. 78 (1973) 1360-1380.

[55] J. Liao, H. Welsch, Patterns of venture gestation process: Exploring the differences between tech and non-tech nascent entrepreneurs, J. High Technol. Manage. Res. 19 (2008) 103-113.

[56] K.J. Preacher, A.F. Hayes, Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behav. Res. Methods 40 (2008) 879-891.

[57] A.S. Masten, C.D. Desjardins, C.M. McCormick, S.I. Kuo, J.D. Long, The significance of childhood competence and problems for adult success in work: A developmental cascade analysis, Dev. Psychopathol. 22 (2010) 679-694.

[58] S. Kösters, M. Obschonka, Building winners? An empirical evaluation of public business assistance in the founding process. Jena Econ. Res. Pap. 025 (2010).

[59] H. Aldrich, Organizations evolving, Sage, London, 1999.

[60] U. Cantner, M. Stützer, The use and effect of social capital in new venture creation: Solo entrepreneurs vs. new venture teams. Jena Econ. Res. Pap., 12 (2010).

[61] R.W. Lent, S.D. Brown, G. Hackett, Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. J. Vocat. Behav. 45 (1994) 79-122.

[62] Csikszentmihalyi, M., Rathunde, K. & Whalen, S. (1993). Talented teenagers: The roots of success and failure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[63] K.A. Ericsson, R.W. Roring, K. Nandagopal, Giftedness and evidence for reproducibly superior performance: An account based on the expert performance framework. High Ability Stud. 18 (2007) 3–56.

[64] D.K. Simonton, Emergence and realization of genius: The lives and works of 120 classical composers, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 61 (1991) 829-840.

[65] E.I. Knudsen, J.J. Heckman, J.L. Cameron, J.P. Shonkoff, Economic, neurobiological, and behavioral perspectives on building America’s future workforce, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103 (2006) 10155–10162.

[66] J.M. Unger, N. Keith, C. Hilling, M.M. Gielnik, M. Frese, Deliberate practice among South African small business owners: Relationships with education, cognitive ability, knowledge, and success, J. Occup. Organizat. Psychol. 82 (2009) 21-44.

[67] A. Pickles, J. Hill, Developmental pathways, in: D. Cicchetti, D.J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Theory and method, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2006, pp. 211-243).

[68] M.A. Conway, Q. Wang, K. Hanyu, S. Haque, A cross-cultural variation of autobiographical memory: On the universality and cultural variation of the reminiscence bump, J. Cross-Cultural Psychol. 36 (2005) 739-749.