Entrepreneurs' Cognitive Ability and New Ventures' Performance

Ali Mohammadi, Kourosh Shafi

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Why do some newly founded ventures succeed, while others fail? To address this fundamental question in entrepreneurship discipline, we investigate the role of founder’s cognitive ability and its influence on forming founding team. Using a near-exhaustive sample of Swedish male founders, we find that one standard deviation increase in founders’ cognitive ability is associated with about 23 increase in performance measured by venture sales. This effect is larger for founders operating in high-technology industries. The relationship between founders’ cognitive ability and venture sales is mediated by founding-team size and team collective cognitive abilities. Our study highlights the relevance of resource-based view for entrepreneurship research by demonstrating the dependence of new ventures’ performance on founders’ cognitive ability, especially through attracting other foundingteam members with high cognitive ability.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2022
Number of pages36
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventDRUID22 Conference - Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark
Duration: 13 Jun 202215 Jun 2022
Conference number: 43
https://conference.druid.dk/Druid/index.xhtml?confId=64

Conference

ConferenceDRUID22 Conference
Number43
LocationCopenhagen Business School
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityFrederiksberg
Period13/06/202215/06/2022
Internet address

Keywords

  • Cognitive ability
  • Performance of stratups
  • Founding teams

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