Jebessa Teshome Bayissa, Karin Hellerstedt, Ethel Brundin and Mohammed Seid Abtew
In the process of pursuing an entrepreneurial career, the role of the relational institution of the family depends on the economy in which the institutions are embedded. In…
Abstract
Purpose
In the process of pursuing an entrepreneurial career, the role of the relational institution of the family depends on the economy in which the institutions are embedded. In emerging economies, parents play a more significant role concerning their children’s career in contrast to those in developed ones. In this respect, there is limited knowledge regarding the process of pursuing an entrepreneurial career while simultaneously handling parental relations in a context that does not support entrepreneurship. This paper investigates how parental dynamics influences the process of an individual’s transition to an entrepreneurial career after graduating from a university in a developing country.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a longitudinal study of 15 graduate entrepreneurs in Ethiopia who were in the process of transitioning to entrepreneurial careers. Data was collected and analysed during a two and a half year period (2018–2020) drawing on 45 interviews with, and observations of, these entrepreneurs, and six interviews with parents.
Findings
The paper identifies patterns of how entrepreneurs embedded with or dis-embedded themselves from their parental relations as they developed their ventures. The findings show that there were shifts in the entrepreneur–parent relational dynamics from the pre-startup phase to the up and running phase. Drawing on these findings, the paper develops a theoretical framework of graduates’ transitioning to entrepreneurship as a process of individuation from parental relations. Further, we find that parents are both the context and the agents in the entrepreneurial process and that the graduates’ pursuit of entrepreneurial careers is instrumental for their individuation process. The findings contribute to the literature on family embeddedness in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship career literature and individuation theory.
Originality/value
Answering the call for research on family embeddedness in entrepreneurship, this paper explores the role of parental dynamics when a family member transitions to an entrepreneurial career after graduating from a university. The study proposes and shows how individuation theory is a relevant perspective for understanding graduates’ transition to entrepreneurial careers.
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Karin Hellerstedt, Karl Wennberg and Lars Frederiksen
This chapter investigates how regional start-up rates in the knowledge-intensive services and high-tech industries are influenced by knowledge spillovers from both universities…
Abstract
This chapter investigates how regional start-up rates in the knowledge-intensive services and high-tech industries are influenced by knowledge spillovers from both universities and firm-based R&D activities. Integrating insights from economic geography and organizational ecology into the literature on entrepreneurship, we develop a theoretical framework which captures how both supply- and demand-side factors mold the regional bedrock for start-ups in knowledge-intensive industries. Using multilevel data of all knowledge-intensive start-ups across 286 Swedish municipalities between 1994 and 2002 we demonstrate how characteristics of the economic and political milieu within each region influence the ratio of firm births. We find that knowledge spillovers from universities and firm-based R&D strongly affect the start-up rates for both high-tech firms and knowledge-intensive services firms. Further, the start-up rate of knowledge-intensive service firms is tied more strongly to the supply of university educated individuals and the political regulatory regime within the municipality than start-ups in high-tech industries. This suggests that knowledge-intensive service-start-ups are more susceptible to both demand-side and supply-side context than is the case for high-tech start-ups in general. Our study contributes to the growing stream of research that explains entrepreneurial activity as shaped by contextual factors, most notably academic institutions, such as universities that contribute to knowledge-intensive start-ups.
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Di Song, Aiqi Wu, Xiaotong Zhong and Shufan Yu
This study aims to introduce an important temporal dimension to the research on institution and entrepreneurship in the transition period. This study develops the concept of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to introduce an important temporal dimension to the research on institution and entrepreneurship in the transition period. This study develops the concept of pre-reform institutional embeddedness, and explores its impact on entrepreneurial reinvestment of private firms in China’s transition economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used secondary data of a nationally representative sample of China’s private firms collected in the early days of the institutional transition period and applied ordinary least squares regressions and the Baron and Kenny approach to test the theoretical model.
Findings
Pre-reform institutional embeddedness has a negative impact on entrepreneurial reinvestment of private firms in the transition period. This relationship is mediated by guanxi-induced employment, such that pre-reform institutional embeddedness promotes guanxi-induced employment, which in turn discourages a private firm to reinvest. Additionally, the negative impact of guanxi-induced employment on entrepreneurial reinvestment is reduced when decentralization of decision-making is used.
Practical implications
First, entrepreneurs should be aware of pre-reform institutional embeddedness’ negative influence on firms’ risk-taking abilities and incentives. Private firms already constrained by this connection could alleviate the negative impacts through a widespread delegation of decision-making authority. Second, policymakers should be cautious about improper government-business relationships, which may discourage private firms from fully pursuing entrepreneurial growth opportunities.
Originality/value
This paper makes theoretical contributions to the literature on entrepreneurial reinvestment, embeddedness perspective of entrepreneurship and imprinting theory.