The Impact of Human Capital on Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Outcomes
Date
2019-06-11
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Abstract
In the extant literature, innovativeness, opportunity identification, and performance of the firm are considered to be independently affected by the human capital (i.e., knowledge, skills, and experience) and entrepreneurship. The view that entrepreneurship involves both opportunity and people has led to the call from scholars to look at entrepreneurship in conjunction with human capital to better explain the firm’s growth. Acknowledging this need, the three studies in this thesis explore the relationship between human capital and its impact on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial outcomes. Chapter 2 of the thesis examines the underlying similarities and complementarities of human capital and entrepreneurship by studying the relationship between learning orientation and entrepreneurial orientation. Using a meta-analysis methodology, this study finds a fairly high correlation of 0.44 between learning and entrepreneurial orientations. The findings indicate that these two orientations have a combinative impact on firm performance, with a combined ability to explain as high as 38% of performance variance. Chapter 3, taking a process view, studies the relationship between human capital and innovation as an essential component of entrepreneurship. The study theorizes and tests the novel idea that learning across the organization (i.e., learning breadth) is associated with organization-wide innovation (i.e., innovation breadth) which in turn impacts performance. Using ordinary Least squares moderated regression, the study demonstrates a curvilinear relationship between learning breadth and innovation breadth. Further, past venture experience of the firm’s leadership moderates this relationship, while innovation breadth is positively related to business performance. The findings highlight the breadth of the innovations as an important extension of inquiry in addition to consideration of a single or dominant type of innovation. Drawing on the insights of the behavioral theory of the firm, Chapter 4 argues that human capital of founders, apart from being associated with the mean performance of new ventures, is also associated with performance variability. The estimated multiplicative heteroscedasticity regression model reveals that (i) past venture experience positively affects firm growth without affecting the variability, (ii) team industry work experience and education increase variability without affecting the mean, and (iii) the age of team members and the ratio of native-born owners hurt the firm’s growth and have a positive effect on variability. Finally, Chapter 5 provides a synthesis across the three essays to demonstrate three interrelated but little explored aspects of human capital and its impact on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial outcomes.
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Keywords
Entrepreneurship, Human Capital, Learning Orientation, Entrepreneurial Orientation, Innovation Breadth, Performance Variability, Past Venture Experience
Citation
Sinha, K. K. (2019). The Impact of Human Capital on Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Outcomes (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.