A great deal of research on entrepreneurial exit focuses on the potential challenges entrepreneurs may face when launching a new venture, but very little is known about those who choose to re-enter the traditional workforce. It is commonly assumed that an entrepreneur can always “go back to work,” however, it is unclear how recruiters evaluate entrepreneurial experience early in the selection process. Drawing from screening theory, attribution theory, and the person-organization fit perspective, we designed three studies to begin answering questions about the challenges former entrepreneurs may face when attempting to find more traditional employment. Study 1 revealed that recruiters evaluate former entrepreneurs more negatively than job applicants with more traditional work experience, and this relationship is stronger when former entrepreneurs close—versus sell—their venture. Study 2 employed a qualitative, inductive approach to examine why recruiters may be biased against former entrepreneurs and found that there are often assumptions of rapid turnover, insubordinate behavior, and organizational misfit. Finally, the Study 3 results suggested that the negative evaluation of former entrepreneurs may not be universal and depends on important contextual factors such as job characteristics, length of entrepreneurial experience, and details about entrepreneurial exit.

大量关于创业退出的研究都集中在创业者在创办新企业时可能面临的潜在挑战上，但对于那些选择重新进入传统劳动力市场的人却知之甚少。人们普遍认为，创业者总是可以“重返工作岗位”，然而，招聘人员如何在选拔过程的早期评估创业经验尚不清楚。从筛选理论、归因理论和人与组织契合的角度出发，我们设计了三项研究来回答有关前企业家在尝试寻找更传统的工作时可能面临的挑战的问题。研究 1 显示，招聘人员对前企业家的评价比具有更多传统工作经验的求职者更负面，当前企业家关闭（而不是出售）他们的企业时，这种关系会更加牢固。研究 2 采用了一种定性的、归纳的方法来研究为什么招聘人员可能会对前企业家产生偏见，并发现通常存在快速离职、不服从行为和组织不适应的假设。最后，研究 3 的结果表明，对前创业者的负面评价可能并不普遍，并且取决于重要的背景因素，例如工作特征、创业经验的长度和创业退出的细节。