Analyzing individual and environmental factors influencing (new) venture success

Over the last decades, entrepreneurship has developed into a rich and manifold field of research. The concept of entrepreneurial opportunities has provided a foundation for this development and ever since, numerous directions of research have emerged. The question of ‘why some new ventures are successful, while the majority is not’, has become central to the field of entrepreneurship (Davidsson, Delmar, & Wiklund, 2006; Delmar, Davidsson, & Gartner, 2003; Eckhardt & Shane, 2011). This thesis therefore focuses on various factors that influence new venture success. The first study of this thesis provides a holistic overview of individual, organizational, and environmental factors on the broader concept of entrepreneurial opportunities. In addition to providing an extensive overview, I also derive promising directions for future research that would further enhance the research field. I will address parts of these directions in the following empirical studies of this thesis. In particular, study two, three, and four focus on specific individual and environmental factors that influence the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities and thus new venture success. The second study focuses on two environmental factors that influence new venture success. More specifically, the study investigates the effect of new ventures’ market entry timing and geographical context on new venture success. Based on the concepts of the diffusion of innovations and technology acceptance, my co-authors and I argue that the amount of new ventures that focus on a certain technology over time proceeds as a technology wave. We empirically evidence that a higher temporal distance to the peak of a technology wave negatively affects new venture success. We thus show that new ventures, which are founded around the peak of a technology wave are more likely to be successful. In addition, we use the uncertainty avoidance level of geographical regions as a moderator. We show that regions with a low level of uncertainty avoidance mitigate the relationship between new venture timing within a technology wave and new venture success. In contrast, regions with a high level of uncertainty avoidance intensify the relationship between new venture timing within a technology wave and new venture success. The third study focuses on an environmental and an individual factor that influence new venture success. My co-authors and I show that new ventures with high attention to sustainability differentiate themselves from competitors, benefit from the heightened legitimacy of the green sector, and thus are more successful. However, new ventures with low attention to sustainability have their success negatively impacted, as investors view this focus on sustainability as a costly distraction. In addition, we show that this relationship is moderated by founders’ prior work experience. Founders with a high level of prior work experience are better able to evaluate and prioritize worthwhile activities. Consequently, they are better able to convince investors of the new ventures’ legitimacy (Baum & Silverman, 2004; Delmar & Shane, 2006; Rao, Chandy, & Prabhu, 2008). The fourth study focuses on an individual factor that influences (new) venture success. In particular, my co-authors and I investigate the effect of narcissism on firm performance. Entrepreneurship research that examines the effect of narcissism is extremely underdeveloped (Cragun, Olsen, & Wright, 2020; Navis & Ozbek, 2016). Therefore, we draw on established research from upper echelons theory and chief executive officer narcissism (e.g., Buyl, Boone, & Wade, 2019; Chatterjee & Pollock, 2017; Hambrick, 2007; Hambrick & Mason, 1984) and develop a novel narcissism measurement. Our novel narcissism index measures narcissism by analyzing information from LinkedIn profiles of individual top executives. The newly-established narcissism index provides a valuable measurement construct that can be used in entrepreneurship research to determine founders’ narcissism as an individual factor influencing new venture success.