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Age and entrepreneurial career success: A review and a meta-analysis

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  • Zhao, Hao
  • O'Connor, Gina
  • Wu, Jihong
  • Lumpkin, G.T.

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has become an attractive career option for both the young and the old, but age has not been thoroughly examined as a variable of interest among entrepreneurship scholars. In this review, we present 12 theoretical perspectives regarding the effect of age on entrepreneurs' success and our critiques. We then present results of an exploratory meta-analysis with effect sizes from 102 samples. The results show that age has a weak, positive linear relationship with overall entrepreneurial success, but it does exhibit signs of a U-shaped relationship, with the relationship being negative among younger samples but positive among older samples. The positive effect size becomes more pronounced when more females are included in the sample. The effect size of age does not differ by entrepreneurs' tenure running the firm. In terms of the type of success measures, age has a negative effect on growth but a positive effect on subjective success, firm size, and financial success, and no effect on survival. We compare our results with previous meta-analyses on employees' age to show the uniqueness of entrepreneurs' careers and we offer suggestions for future studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Hao & O'Connor, Gina & Wu, Jihong & Lumpkin, G.T., 2021. "Age and entrepreneurial career success: A review and a meta-analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:36:y:2021:i:1:s0883902619302691
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106007
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