IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eim/papers/h201015.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

New Firm Performance: Does the Age of Founders Affect Employment Creation?

Author

Listed:
  • Jan de Kok
  • Ingrid Verheul
  • Abdelfatah Ichou

Abstract

The ageing population increasingly becomes a challenge for policy makers. Given the expected changes in the age decomposition of the workforce, it becomes more pressing to understand the nature of the relationship between age and entrepreneurship. More specifically: what are the consequences of an ageing (entrepreneurial) population on entrepreneurial performance? A recent study by EIM investigates the effect of the age of the entrepreneur at start-up on the size of newly started firms. A distinction is made between the decision of entrepreneurs whether or not to become an employer, and the decision of employers to hire a certain number of employees. To examine to which extent age has a direct and/or indirect effect on these two decision, a sample of 849 new firms has been used that survived the first three years after start-up. A first conclusion of the empirical analysis is that it is important to make the distinction between the two decisions: the decision of entrepreneurs whether or not to become an employer depends on other factors than the decision of employers regarding the number of employees. A second conclusion is that age has a negative relationship with the outcome of both decisions, but that these relationships are completely mediated by the mediating variables included in the study. Entrepreneurs who start at older age are less likely to work fulltime in their new venture, are less willing to take risks and have a lower perception of their entrepreneurial skills. Each of these factors has, in turn, a positive impact on the probability of employing personnel. For the number of employees a negative indirect effect of age exists, through the effect of age on the perception of entrepreneurial skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan de Kok & Ingrid Verheul & Abdelfatah Ichou, 2010. "New Firm Performance: Does the Age of Founders Affect Employment Creation?," Scales Research Reports H201015, EIM Business and Policy Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:eim:papers:h201015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.entrepreneurship-sme.eu/pdf-ez/H201015.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Werner Bönte & Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich, 2007. "Demography and Innovative Entrepreneurship," Jena Economics Research Papers 2007-084, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    2. F. van Es & D. J. van Vuuren, 2011. "A decomposition of the growth in self-employment," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(17), pages 1665-1669.
    3. Douglas Holtz-Eakin & David Joulfaian & Harvey S. Rosen, 1994. "Entrepreneurial Decisions and Liquidity Constraints," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 334-347, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan de Kok & Tommy Span, 2014. "Ageing and entrepreneurship across Dutch regions," Scales Research Reports H201409, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    2. Aracely Soto-Simeone & Teemu Kautonen, 2021. "Senior entrepreneurship following unemployment: a social identity theory perspective," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1683-1706, August.
    3. Blid Laura, 2018. "Senior entrepreneurship – key facts at regional level in Romania," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 139-150, May.
    4. Backman, Mikaela & Karlsson, Charlie, 2013. "Exploration of Wisdom Ages: Firm survival," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 339, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    5. Teemu Kautonen & Simon Down & Maria Minniti, 2014. "Ageing and entrepreneurial preferences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 579-594, March.
    6. Backman, Mikaela & Karlsson, Charlie, 2020. "Age of managers and employees – Firm survival," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    7. André van Stel & Sander Wennekers & Jolanda Hessels & Chantal Hartog, 2011. "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2010 The Netherlands," Scales Research Reports A201108, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    8. Păunescu Carmen & Blid Laura, 2017. "Seniorpreneur as a career option for smart active ageing. A study on Romania," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 826-833, July.
    9. Md. Mazharul Islam & Abla Abdul Hameed Bokhari & Turki Shjaan Abalala, 2018. "Perceptions to Start up Business as a Career Choice among Saudi Female Higher Education Students," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22, May.
    10. Harms, Rainer & Luck, Florian & Kraus, Sascha & Walsh, Steven, 2014. "On the motivational drivers of gray entrepreneurship: An exploratory study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 358-365.
    11. Kautonen, Teemu & Kibler, Ewald & Minniti, Maria, 2017. "Late-career entrepreneurship, income and quality of life," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 318-333.
    12. Abdelfatah Ichou, 2010. "Modelling the Determinants of Job Creation: Microeconometric Models Accounting for Latent Entrepreneurial Ability," Scales Research Reports H201018, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    13. Sanna Joensuu-Salo & Anmari Viljamaa & Elina Varamäki, 2021. "Understanding Business Takeover Intentions—The Role of Theory of Planned Behavior and Entrepreneurship Competence," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, June.
    14. Wyrwich, Michael, 2013. "Can socioeconomic heritage produce a lost generation with regard to entrepreneurship?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 667-682.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Isabel Grilo & Roy Thurik, 2008. "Determinants of entrepreneurial engagement levels in Europe and the US," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(6), pages 1113-1145, December.
    2. Alexandre Janiak & Paulo Santos Monteiro, 2011. "Inflation and Welfare in Long‐Run Equilibrium with Firm Dynamics," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(5), pages 795-834, August.
    3. Becker, Sascha & Hvide, Hans V, 2013. "Do entrepreneurs matter?," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 109, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    4. Rachel G. Childers, 2011. "Being One'S Own Boss: How Does Risk Fit In?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 56(1), pages 48-58, May.
    5. Hans K. Hvide & Benjamin F. Jones, 2018. "University Innovation and the Professor's Privilege," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1860-1898, July.
    6. Françoise Bastié & Sylvie Cieply & Pascal Cussy, 2013. "The entrepreneur’s mode of entry: the effect of social and financial capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 865-877, May.
    7. Colin C. Williams & Ioana Alexandra Horodnic, 2017. "Tackling Bogus Self-Employment: Some Lessons From Romania," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(02), pages 1-20, June.
    8. Blanchflower, David G., 2000. "Self-employment in OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 471-505, September.
    9. Luca Grilli, 2005. "Internet start-ups access to the bank loan market: evidence from Italy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 293-305.
    10. Nathalie Colombier & David Masclet, 2008. "Intergenerational correlation in self employment: some further evidence from French ECHP data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 423-437, April.
    11. Yannis Georgellis & Howard Wall, 2005. "Gender differences in self-employment," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 321-342.
    12. Dileni Gunewardena & Abdoulaye Seck, 2020. "Heterogeneity in entrepreneurship in developing countries: Risk, credit, and migration and the entrepreneurial propensity of youth and women," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 713-725, August.
    13. Dietmar Harhoff, 2008. "Innovation, Entrepreneurship und Demographie," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(s1), pages 46-72, May.
    14. William M. Gentry & R. Glenn Hubbard, 2000. "Entrepreneurship and Household Saving," NBER Working Papers 7894, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Niklas Elert, 2014. "What determines entry? Evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 55-92, August.
    16. Michael Hout & Harvey Rosen, 2000. "Self-Employment, Family Background, and Race," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 35(4), pages 670-692.
    17. Wenli Li, 1998. "Government loan, guarantee, and grant programs: an evaluation," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue Fall, pages 25-52.
    18. Clemens, Christiane & Heinemann, Maik, 2010. "On entrepreneurial risk-taking and the macroeconomic effects of financial constraints," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1610-1626, September.
    19. David De Meza & David C Webb, 2003. "The Near Impossibility of Credit Rationing," FMG Discussion Papers dp459, Financial Markets Group.
    20. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1998. "What Makes an Entrepreneur?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 26-60, January.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eim:papers:h201015. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Webmaster EIM (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eimbpnl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.