Social Capital and Knowledge Assets in Strategic Alliance Networks: Examining the Dark Side of Social Capital from Multiple Theoretical Perspectives

Social capital theory has been used broadly in strategic alliance research to examine the role of interfirm networks in gaining resources and knowledge.  However, normative approaches to advancing social theory have failed to examine the degree to which knowledge is expropriated by members of a firm’s alliance network through knowledge spillovers.  This study seeks to address the gap in extant research by modeling several alternative social capital perspectives in terms of curvilinear relationships between social capital and knowledge assets.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Boise State University

PI/PDs: Curt B. Moore

Boise State University: Karen Nicholas

 

The Effects of Neurodiversity on Cognitive Attributes of Early-Stage Entrepreneurs

Utilizing a neuropathology perspective and conservation of resources theory, we investigated the relationship between neurodiversity and entrepreneurial cognition. Specifically, we introduce the resource-induced coping heuristic (RICH) as a mechanism to explain the relationship that ADHD has with entrepreneurial alertness, cognitive adaptability, and entrepreneurial intent. We propose that, for connections to entrepreneurship outcomes, ADHD functions through the RICH primarily because ADHD-related neurofunctions lead entrepreneurs to encounter resources to be considered for acquisition, development, and protection. Our findings indicate that RICH fully mediates the relationship between ADHD has with entrepreneurial alertness, cognitive adaptability, and entrepreneurial intent. 

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, University of Memphis, West Virginia University

PI/PDs: Curt B. Moore

University of Memphis: Stephen Lanivich

West Virginia University: Nancy McIntire

 

Opaque Costly Signals and Debt Contracts

New Ventures that are unable to fund expansion using internal equity and prefer to maintain complete firm ownership may supplement existing cash flow by accessing external funds in the form of debt contracts (Berger & Udell, 1998). These firms send signals to external stakeholders that represent a sufficient level of legitimacy and worthiness of investment. However, many new ventures are unable to send preferred costly signals because they do not possess them.  In this study, I examine specific signals that carry the preferred costly weight needed to gain a stakeholder’s perception of legitimacy, however, are difficult to fully verify.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Matt Rutherford, Lee Grumbles, Curt Moore

 

Will Crypto Become Actual? An Institutional Approach to Cryptocurrency

How can cryptocurrency gain legitimacy in the eyes of users? We propose that cryptocurrency firms, through evasive entrepreneurial actions reflected by rhetorical strategies, can acquire legitimacy in the market that will ultimately reduce institutional uncertainty.  Drawing from Williamson’s (1998, 2000) hierarchical model of institutional systems, we propose that legitimacy acquisition at the market level via evasive action will attenuate uncertainty in the formal institutional environment, which will beget additional legitimacy for cryptocurrencies, and thus higher performance to those firms, on average.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Matt Rutherford, Duygu Phillips, Per Bylund, Curt Moore

 

New Venture Legitimacy Diffusion: The Role of Storytelling and Social Networks

Legitimacy diffusion is critical for new venture success, survival, and growth. Storytelling is a powerful technique to acquire legitimacy as well as to diffuse it. The focus of the current study is to analyze the role of storytelling in social media, specifically on Twitter. We also investigate the moderating effects of social networks based on network density and eigenvector centrality.  Results indicate that storytelling in social media can be effective in legitimacy diffusion and that storytelling elements influence the extent on diffusion, specifically cognitive, pragmatic, and emotional elements as well as degree centrality. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Matt Rutherford, Duygu Phillips, Curt Moore

 

Employer Branding in Family Firms

Family firms often face challenges attracting employees. We theorize and test a parallel mediation model that highlights the importance of the family firm brand in the recruitment process. Results indicate that job seekers have opposing category-based beliefs about family firms: they have negative perceptions of family firm innovativeness and HR practices but positive perceptions of family firm brand authenticity, each having a different influence on their level of attraction to the firm. These findings provide nuanced insight into the aspects of family firms that are important to signal to potential employees. 

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, University of Witten-Herdecke, University of Bern, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

PI/PDs: Kristen Madison, Duygu Phillips

University of Witten-Herdecke, Sandra Wolf

University of Bern, Andreas Hack

University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Franz W. Kellermanns

 

Toward a Theory of Dyadic Trust in Family Firms

Mutual trust within workplace dyads is a key factor to forging productive relationships and facilitating organizational success. Yet, we know little about why some dyads develop and maintain mutual trust while other dyads fail to do so. This is particularly true in family firms, where dyadic kinship factors can challenge the implicit assumptions and theoretical tenets of trust research. Thus, we offer a novel contextualized perspective of dyadic trust by theorizing how kinship complicates the trajectory of mutual trust in family firms. Our framework intends to illuminate how family firms offer a unique and opportune context to extend trust research. 

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Northeastern University, Florida Atlantic University

PI/PDs: Kristen Madison

Northeastern University, Kimberly A. Eddleston

Florida Atlantic University, Roland E. Kidwell

 

Family Communication Patterns in Family Firms

This study integrates human communication and imprinting theories to advance our understanding of family firm resiliency. We theorize that the more effective the human communication within the owning family, the more effective the organizational communication within the family firm and subsequently, the greater the firm’s resiliency. However, we suggest that kinship and gender play a contributing role in whether the family communication patterns fully imprint on the family firm, implying that the relationship between imprinting and firm outcomes is more nuanced than theory would suggest.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Middle Tennessee State University

PI/PDs: Kristen Madison

Middle Tennessee State University, Kristen K. Shanine

 

Characteristics of Entrepreneurial Teams and New Venture Emergence

This study posits that new venture emergence depends on both the aggregation and diversity of the team members’ skillsets. Results from our multi-respondent survey indicate that teams with higher levels of aggregated discovery skills can develop more competitive value propositions at the conception stage. Whereas teams can leverage their competitive offerings more effectively at the commercialization stage when they possess more diverse delivery skills. These findings extend our understanding of the composition of new venture teams by highlighting the varying nature of skillsets and entrepreneurial learning required at different stages of the emergence process.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, Louisiana State University, University of Tehran

PI/PDs: Kristen Madison

Louisiana State University, Sohrab Soleimanof

University of Tehran, Kamal Sakhdari

 

Distinctiveness Legitimates? Examining the Parallel Nature of Distinctiveness and Conformity

In this study, we seek to explore the boundary conditions of the legitimate distinctiveness construct. Specifically, we explore two contingencies: 1) that various types of legitimacy exist, and 2) that categories vary by level of appeal. We draw upon cultural entrepreneurship and present two studies: the first is an experimental study, and the second is a quantitative study of a large and unique dataset collected from Twitter. This study design allows us to test the contention that distinctiveness plays a more prominent role in attaining legitimacy than previously thought.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Kristen Madison, Duygu Phillips, Matthew W. Rutherford, Bryan D. Edwards, Curt B. Moore

 

Nonfamily Employee Innovation in Family Firms

Employee innovation is central to family firm competitiveness and survival; however, generalizable findings that describe employee innovation in family firms remain ambiguous. This study utilizes a multilevel approach to explore the relationships between the depth of managerial selection practices, nonfamily employees perceived fit with the organization, management support for innovation, and employee innovativeness. We collected multi-respondent data from leaders and employees in family firms, with results offering novel insight into nonfamily employee innovation and the potential factors that contribute to employee innovation variability between family firms.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Kristen Madison, Joyce Komakech Nabisaalu, Curt B. Moore

 

Overcoming Uncertainty, Resilience, & Overconfidence in Entrepreneurship

We use conjoint experiments to provide empirical evidence regarding how individuals in the early stages of the entrepreneurial process and under different levels of uncertainty are influenced by the individual’s resilience and overconfidence in their propensity to pursue entrepreneurial action. Results support the view that higher levels of individual resilience will partially mitigate the hindrances to entrepreneurial action associated with higher levels of uncertainty, while, counterintuitively, the results of overconfidence were not significant. Consequences of these findings for these theory of entrepreneurship under uncertainty are discussed.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Per Bylund, Fernando D’Andrea, Steven Trost

 

Effectuation and The Logic of Action: A Critical Assessment from a Praxeological

Perspective

Over the past two decades, effectuation has emerged as a popular new paradigm for understanding entrepreneurial action. Building on recent discussions about the veracity of effectuation research, we analyze the theoretical structure of effectuation. We rely on a rarely used method for reasoning about social phenomena prevalent in the contemporary Austrian School – formalized as praxeology – to systematically probe into effectuation challenging its core tenets, identifying critical issues that need to be addressed, and offering possible actionable remedies. Based on our analyses, we question the novelty and usefulness of effectuation principles for entrepreneurship research and practice and highlight avenues for constructive scholarship in this area. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University, University of Alabama Birmingham

PI/PD: Per Bylund

University of Alabama Birmingham: Vishal Gupta

 

Where do Factor Markets Come From? Toward a Resource-Based Theory of the Entrepreneurial Firm

We argue that the firm is the means through which such advantages are established. In our view, the firm is an island of entrepreneurial innovation, which increases efficiency through increasing returns, and provides the means through which goods otherwise not possible in the market are brought into being. The firm, we conclude, is the entrepreneur’s means of realizing an imagined competitive advantage. We contribute to a rich literature exploring the roots of entrepreneurial strategy, and our exploration of entrepreneurial factor markets provides an essential theoretical link necessary for a creation-infused account of entrepreneurial firm formation.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, University of Utah

PI/PD: Per Bylund

University of Utah: Robert Wuebker

 

Boundaries of Strategic Theory and Its Implications for Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship draws on theories in strategy to answer its central questions, and strategy increasingly looks at the origins of new value, disclosing a mismatch between canonical strategic theories and their application where value creation, rather than discovery or exploitation, are the focus. We claim that there are important and often-neglected boundary conditions for strategic theories applied to entrepreneurial settings. This misapplication of strategic theories in entrepreneurship has important implications for the program of research in entrepreneurship, strategic entrepreneurship, and strategy, and calls for new theory at the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy focused on the origins of new value.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University, University of Utah

PI/PDs: Per Bylund

University of Utah: Robert Wuebker

 

Crypto vs. Fiat: An institutional approach

How can cryptocurrency gain legitimacy in the eyes of users? We propose that cryptocurrency firms can acquire market legitimacy that will ultimately reduce institutional uncertainty, through rhetorical strategies that circumvent the existing institutional framework (i.e., evasive entrepreneurial action). This study: 1) extends our understanding of the evolution of an innovation and its diffusion under institutional uncertainty, 2) elucidates how cryptocurrency can become a medium of exchange, and 3) contributes to the development of institutional theory.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Duygu Phillips, Per Bylund, Curt Moore, Matthew Rutherford

 

The Effects of Country-Level Institutional Configurations on the Entrepreneurship Process

This research performs an exploratory comparative institutional analysis to understand how country-level institutional configurations may shape the entrepreneurship process. The study uses fsQCA to examine how different characteristics of institutional contexts (i.e., informal institutional support, formal institutional strength, and formal institutional efficiency) generate distinct national institutional configurations with varying advantages for entrepreneurial activities performed at the early vs. the late stage of the entrepreneurship process, thereby affecting the productivity of entrepreneurship in countries. The study’s findings are discussed to form new theory on why certain institutional profiles are more or less effective in promoting entrepreneurial activities throughout the entrepreneurship process.

Sponsor: Mississippi State University, Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Per Bylund

Mississippi State University: Sohrab Soleimanof, Hessamoddin Sarooghi

 

A Process Theory of Value and its Implications for Entrepreneurship and the Market Process

We advance a conception of value as a process and formalize an integrative theory of subjective value—phenomenal value theory—that depicts value in terms of an experiential learning process. Phenomenal value theory sees the market process as innately a value learning process whose cornerstone is the entrepreneur. The Schumpeterian and Kirznerian theories of entrepreneurship, built from and upon general equilibrium theory, are thus awkward foundations for modern entrepreneurship theory. Our entrepreneurial market process theory offers important and previously unrecognized implications regarding the nature and costs of regulatory policy in fettering the value learning process.

Sponsor: University of Nevada Reno, Oklahoma State University

PI/PD: Per Bylund

University of Nevada Reno: Mark Packard

 

Building Durability Capabilities: New Venture Navigation of the Great Recession

Results from an analysis of 2,500 firms that were founded just prior to the start of the Great Recession indicate that new ventures which display a commitment towards “durability resources” are more likely to survive a recession—and thrive afterword. With regard to combinations of these resources, we found that firms could be described in one of four ways: 1) Resource-Constrained, 2) Bootstrappers, 3) Adequate, and 4) Beneficent. With the exception of the Resource-Constrained, all types demonstrated some association with elevated performance during a recession; but the Beneficent firms were the most strongly associated.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Paul Sanchez, MW Rutherford, Matt Mazzei.

 

Cultural Entrepreneurs on social media: The Role of Story Fragments in Building Legitimacy

Can online fragments of stories—ante narratives—influence legitimacy judgments of audiences? While the work on fully formed narratives and legitimacy is advancing, we know very little about online antinarratives and their legitimacy inducing impact. Drawing on cultural entrepreneurship theory, we offer an empirical analysis of a large, unique dataset and develop a novel dictionary to analyze a new venture’s tweets. Our results indicate that tweets containing legitimating content positively affect social media legitimacy, while emotive content is negatively related to social media legitimacy. We further find the size of an actor’s social media network moderates our antecedents in somewhat unexpected ways.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Duygu Phillips, Matt Rutherford, Curt Moore

 

Optimally Distinctive or Optimally Isomorphic? A Quasi-Experimental Investigation of New Venture Names

How do organizations saddled with extreme liabilities of newness choose a name that will assist in the difficult process of emergence? Drawing on optimal distinctiveness theory and literature from marketing, we propose that new ventures whose names communicate both distinctiveness and conformity will attain elusive legitimacy judgments from audiences. We find that; indeed, both are important; but the connotations of distinctiveness of a venture’s name are more strongly associated with legitimacy and subsequent performance than the connotations of conformity. Moreover, while names conveying conformity have curvilinear relation with legitimacy, names transmitting distinctiveness possess a linear relationship.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Duygu Phillips, Matt Rutherford

Department of Management: Bryan Edwards

 

The Relation between New Venture Legitimacy and Performance: A Meta-Analytic Review

There is a consensus in the literature that legitimacy—defined as, “a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed systems of norms, beliefs and definitions” (Suchman, 1995, p.574)—plays a central role in allowing nascent and young entrepreneurial ventures to overcome liabilities of newness. However, despite the increasing quantity of academic research focused on legitimacy in new ventures, there is much we do not yet know.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Duygu Phillips, Paul Sanchez, Rutherford, MW, Ernest O’Boyle, Jeff Pollack

 

Deliberate Practice as Entrepreneurship Curriculum: A Study of Middle School Girls in Economically Challenged Regions

Can the deliberate practice process be employed to swiftly improve individual entrepreneurial performance? To address this question, a curriculum was developed based on the deliberate practice model and administered to middle school girls from economically challenged regions to determine whether deliberate entrepreneurial skills practice could lead to the expeditious acquisition of enhanced entrepreneurial performance. Our findings confirmed the conceptual relationship between deliberate practice and entrepreneurial performance. It is hoped that the results of this study can be used by researchers, educators, and policy makers to address a general lack of entrepreneurship in economically challenged regions with knowledge and skills to create a new business.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Angela Reddix, Rutherford, MW, Lincoln Brown

 

An Introduction and Clarification of ‘Ex Nihilo’ Propriety

Organizational legitimacy attainment is one of the most important precursors to the success of new ventures. Until now, an omission within the entrepreneurship literature describing and examining the attainment of legitimacy has been apparent. Previously, the identification and description of the attainment of legitimacy that occurs in the earliest stages of new venture development have been neglected. Consequently, the following is a description and discussion of the earliest of all legitimacy types to be attained, ex nihilo legitimacy. Next, the nomological network of the new construct is discussed.

Sponsors: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Rutherford, MW, Jeff Pollack, Matt Mazzei, Brian Nagy

 

Will Crypto Become Actual? An Institutional Approach to Cryptocurrency

We propose that cryptocurrency firms, through evasive entrepreneurial actions reflected by rhetorical strategies, can acquire legitimacy in the market that will ultimately reduce institutional uncertainty.  We propose that legitimacy acquisition at the market level via evasive action will attenuate uncertainty in the formal institutional environment, which will beget additional legitimacy for cryptocurrencies, and thus higher performance to those firms, on average. This study (1) extends our understanding of the evolution of an innovation and its diffusion under institutional uncertainty, (2) elucidates how cryptocurrency can become a medium of exchange, and (3) contributes to the development of institutional theory.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Duygu Phillips, MW Rutherford, Curt Moore, Per Bylund

 

Nonresponse Bias in Family Business Research

How do response rates influence outcomes in family business studies? Relatedly and perhaps more importantly, how do they influence the collective quality of family business research? Although there is wide consensus that response rates—and the resultant nonresponse bias—matter in scientific research, there is considerable debate regarding their substantive effect on the studied relationships. Here, we address this issue in family business research. Our broad purpose is to take up on a well-accepted issue in research and provide a guide on strategies to reduce nonresponse bias, enhance study quality and advance the growing field of family business research.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Matt Rutherford, Duygu Phillips

 

Cronyism and Entrepreneurship: How the Interplay Between Informal and Formal National Institutions Can Impact Country-Level Entrepreneurship?

Cronyism is the practice of favoritism based on connections. The institutionalization of cronyism as a rational practice within a context promotes rewards for unproductive behaviors at the expense of productive behaviors. This study strives to explain how the prevalence of cronyism can increase unproductive entrepreneurship and decrease productive entrepreneurship in different countries. Moreover, this research examines the moderating role of formal, inclusive institutions—rule of law—on the relation between cronyism and entrepreneurial motives. Analysis of data from 96 countries over 7 years provides empirical support for the notion that productive entrepreneurship and cronyism are inversely related.   

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Mathew Rutherford, Sohrab Soleimanof

 

Unpacking the Micromotor of Legitimacy Building:

A Nine-Year Study of Three Startup Companies

This paper examines how new ventures obtain positive judgments of legitimacy to move through the process of legitimation. We triangulated periodic interview data from 1) entrepreneurs 2) stakeholders with 3) objective market data to draw conclusions. The analysis suggests that entrepreneurs take specific actions to achieve legitimacy judgements, and in response, stakeholders predominantly make these judgments along two attributes: relational and technological propriety.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs:  Elin M. Oftedal, Lene Foss, Matthew W. Rutherford, Paul Sanchez Ruiz

 

Distinctiveness Legitimates? Examining the Parallel Nature of Distinctiveness and Conformity

The dominant stance in the literature is that legitimacy is attained by conforming to a category. We submit that this work has not fully appreciated two key contingencies: (1) that different types of legitimacy may mediate differently, and (2) that categories vary by level of appeal. We submit that competitive distinctiveness and institutional conformity can serve as legitimating strategies in identity development, but each construct’s relationship with performance is mediated by a different type of legitimacy and contingent upon category appeal. We find that both competitive distinctiveness and institutional conformity are positively related to performance, but, via different legitimacy paths.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs: Duygu Phillips, Matt Rutherford, Curt Moore, Kincy Madison

 

Debt Contracts Within a Pooling Equilibrium:

Introducing Opaque Costly Signals in Entrepreneurial Ventures

This study examines specific signals that carry the preferred costly weight needed to gain a stakeholder’s perception of legitimacy, however, are difficult to fully verify due to the opacity of the signaling environment. As an extension of institutional and signaling theory, this study proposes that new venture signals that exist in an opaque environment will have a positive effect on a stakeholder’s perception of legitimacy. This study also proposes that a stakeholder’s signal receptivity, which is comprised of the valence of a stakeholder’s expert-based schemas, will have a moderating effect on the relationship between opaque costly signals and legitimacy perceptions.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs:  Lee Grumbles, Duygu Phillips, Matt Rutherford, Curt Moore, Bryan Edwards

 

The Role of Narrative Transportation in Pitching Success

Narrative transportation theory suggests familiar elements of a story narrative affects cognition and can change an audience’s perceptions and attitudes. We posit that if angels are narratively transported through a familiar pitch narrative, they may envisage a favorable outcome of what is pitched, and adapt the opportunity and ultimately, they may commit resources. Focusing on the microprocesses of entrepreneurship, our results suggest that cognitive processes induced by narrative transportation mediate the relationship between familiarity, entrepreneurial opportunity adaptation, and resource commitment.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs:  Lee Grumbles, Duygu Phillips, Matt Rutherford, Curt Moore, Bryan Edwards

 

Revitalizing Rural - Equipping Rural Communities with Technology Literacy for Seizing Productivity

The research will examine: 1) how rural awareness of SCT is influenced by hands-on experiences with Pete-Kits, 2) to what degree are the basic skills for using SCT increased through interactions with Pete-Kit, and 3) the effects are of Pete-Kit based training and competition on rural participants’ productivity, and their aspirations for entrepreneurship, remote work, and quality of life within their community. These questions will largely be addressed via survey instruments, administered both before and after the intervention, to both participants and to attendees of community events. Community forums and workshops will also be held to review the strengths and weaknesses of the Pete-Kit program, and to develop relationships with other communities and tribal nations for future scalability.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State University

PI/PDs:  John O’Hara, Julie Angle, Sabit Ekin, Brian Whitacre