This paper presents a systematic empirical study of covariates associated with the success of NIH Phase I SBIR-funded research projects, where success is defined in terms of the small, entrepreneurial firm conducting the Phase I research subsequently receiving a follow-on Phase II research award. We find that women-owned firms are especially disadvantaged in this regard. Our findings suggest that SBIR

Besides their common link with unemployment, unemployment benefits are also relevant to the decision to become an entrepreneur. We thoroughly explored this relationship for a panel of 23 EU countries over the period 2001–2019. Our results demonstrate that generous unemployment compensations hinder entrepreneurial initiative, and those opportunity entrepreneurs, who are more likely to create new jobs

Female entrepreneurship, despite increasing attention, is still largely understudied, especially in the academic context. By adopting the lenses of entrepreneurial ecosystems and feminist theories, the paper investigates the firm performance of female entrepreneurs. We provide empirical evidence of the underperformance of women-led firms, being academic spinoffs or not, compared to men-led firms in

This study applies a stochastic frontier model to examine the relationship between firm size and efficiency using a novel approach. The first novelty is that this study examines large and small firms separately to allow for heterogeneity between firm group sizes in terms of measuring the size-efficiency relationship. The second is that we use a modified frontier model which explicitly includes a family

Abstract Family firms are one of the most ubiquitous forms of business organizations worldwide. Their survival and growth are thus not only crucial for the firms themselves but also for the overall economy. One of the factors that influence their survival and development are their financing decisions. These decisions are generally described through the pecking order theory. However, not much is known

We empirically examine the relationship between business regulation and total (i.e., formal and informal) entrepreneurship using a unique panel data set. We estimate separate regressions for opportunity-driven and necessity-driven nascent entrepreneurship as well as young business entrepreneurship based on two different estimation methods (pooled OLS and system GMM). Our results show that business

Abstract Our study identifies regional traits associated with small business viability, paying particular attention to bank lending to minority-owned firms. Although creditworthy minority business enterprises (MBEs) have less access to bank financing than similar White-owned firms, they have increased their nationwide employee numbers substantially since 2002, more so indeed than White-owned firms

Formal education is correlated with entrepreneurial activity and success, but correlation does not indicate causation. Education and entrepreneurship are both influenced by other related factors. The current study estimates the causal effects of formal education on entrepreneurship outcomes by instrumenting for an individual’s years of schooling using cohort mean years of maternal schooling observed

Many entrepreneurs face challenges in hiring employees, in part because of information asymmetries between start-ups and jobseekers. This paper argues that the prestigious organizational affiliations of founders act as signals that can convey two distinct unobservable attributes: (1) founder-related attributes and (2) venture-related attributes. We perform a series of randomized controlled experiments

Drawing on agency and socioemotional wealth theory, this study elucidates that ownership succession intentions affect earnings management in private family firms. Based on a combination of questionnaire data and archival data of 331 Belgian private family firms, results indicate that family firms intending to transfer ownership to non-family members engage more in earnings management than those planning

We investigate the impact of the angels’ share—the angel investors’ proportion of ownership—on entrepreneurial performance. We argue that below the blockholder level of ownership, the angels’ share is associated with greater innovation but lower market performance. In contrast, we predict that above the blockholder level of ownership, the angels’ share is associated with lower innovation but higher