Creative industries and resilience in times of crisis: the role of firm and entrepreneurial team characteristics

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify firm and entrepreneurial team characteristics that may contribute to resilience in the creative industries (CI) under adverse economic conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

It provides case study evidence based on 19 in-depth interviews with small and young creative enterprises in Greece in 2014 that is at the peak of the Greek economic crisis. New information was collected from two follow-up waves conducted in 2017 and during the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crisis.

Findings

The results suggest that highly internationalized entrepreneurial teams with extensive working and studying experience abroad, which also combine creative expertise with managerial and marketing expertise, are key resilience drivers during economic downturns. Moreover, being export-oriented, serving a diverse customer base and investing in digital technologies seem to allow CI firms to effectively adapt to challenging conditions.

Originality/value

This study adds to the firm-level research on the resilience drivers of small and young enterprises in the CI context. It proposes and empirically tests a conceptual framework to advance the limited knowledge on entrepreneurship and resilience patterns in the CI during crisis periods, emphasizing specific entrepreneurial team and firm characteristics.

Citation

Protogerou, A., Kontolaimou, A. and Caloghirou, Y. (2022), "Creative industries and resilience in times of crisis: the role of firm and entrepreneurial team characteristics", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 1075-1105. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-09-2021-0701