IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbvent/v38y2023i4s0883902623000290.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preparing for scaling: A study on founder role evolution

Author

Listed:
  • Van Lancker, Evy
  • Knockaert, Mirjam
  • Collewaert, Veroniek
  • Breugst, Nicola

Abstract

One of the major entrepreneurial challenges faced by scaling firms involves changing their internal organization. Our study focuses on a particular aspect of internal organizing—namely, how founder roles evolve in preparation for scaling. By means of an in-depth case study and a combination of data collection methods, we study the evolution of formal and informal founder roles. For both types of roles, we identify a founder-driven and an interaction-driven phase, during which founder and/or joiner role-crafting take place. Through both types of role-crafting, founder roles are (re)shaped. Particularly unique to our study is that we identify three scaling-specific paths through which the role-crafting of joiners shapes founders' roles. Specifically, founders experience a role efficiency increase as they take over some of the joiner-introduced role behaviors, or a role set decrease as joiners take over some of their (formal or informal) roles. We further point to the importance of psychological safety and value fit for successful joiner role-crafting to occur and for founder roles to change following founder-joiner interactions. Our study adds to the literatures on scaling and entrepreneurship as well as to role theory and role-crafting literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Van Lancker, Evy & Knockaert, Mirjam & Collewaert, Veroniek & Breugst, Nicola, 2023. "Preparing for scaling: A study on founder role evolution," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:38:y:2023:i:4:s0883902623000290
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2023.106315
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902623000290
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2023.106315?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthew Lee & Laura Huang, 2018. "Gender Bias, Social Impact Framing, and Evaluation of Entrepreneurial Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Hai Yap Teoh & See Liang Foo, 1997. "Moderating effects of tolerance for ambiguity and risktaking propensity on the role conflict-perceived performance relationship: Evidence from singaporean entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 67-81, January.
    3. Shankar, Raj K. & Clausen, Tommy H., 2020. "Scale quickly or fail fast: An inductive study of acceleration," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. John Van Maanen, 2011. "Ethnography as Work: Some Rules of Engagement," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 218-234, January.
    5. Michael Roach & Henry Sauermann, 2015. "Founder or Joiner? The Role of Preferences and Context in Shaping Different Entrepreneurial Interests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(9), pages 2160-2184, September.
    6. Elco Van Burg & Joep Cornelissen & Wouter Stam & Sarah Jack, 2022. "Advancing Qualitative Entrepreneurship Research: Leveraging Methodological Plurality for Achieving Scholarly Impact," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(1), pages 3-20, January.
    7. Mathias, Blake D. & Williams, David W., 2018. "Giving up the hats? Entrepreneurs' role transitions and venture growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 261-277.
    8. Massimo G. Colombo & Evila Piva & Anita Quas & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2016. "How high-tech entrepreneurial ventures cope with the global crisis: changes in product innovation and internationalization strategies," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 647-671, October.
    9. Leung, Aegean & Zhang, Jing & Wong, Poh Kam & Foo, Maw Der, 2006. "The use of networks in human resource acquisition for entrepreneurial firms: Multiple "fit" considerations," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 664-686, September.
    10. Hoang, Ha & Gimeno, Javier, 2010. "Becoming a founder: How founder role identity affects entrepreneurial transitions and persistence in founding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 41-53, January.
    11. Welsh, Dianne H.B. & Botero, Isabel C. & Kaciak, Eugene & Kopaničová, Janka, 2021. "Family emotional support in the transformation of women entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 444-451.
    12. Holger Patzelt & Rebecca Preller & Nicola Breugst, 2021. "Understanding the Life Cycles of Entrepreneurial Teams and Their Ventures: An Agenda for Future Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1119-1153, September.
    13. Warren Boeker & Robert Wiltbank, 2005. "New Venture Evolution and Managerial Capabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 123-133, April.
    14. Christine M. Beckman & M. Diane Burton, 2008. "Founding the Future: Path Dependence in the Evolution of Top Management Teams from Founding to IPO," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 3-24, February.
    15. Vera Rocha & Mirjam van Praag, 2020. "Mind the gap: The role of gender in entrepreneurial career choice and social influence by founders," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 841-866, May.
    16. Eesley, Charles & Wang, Yanbo, 2017. "Social influence in career choice: Evidence from a randomized field experiment on entrepreneurial mentorship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 636-650.
    17. Hsu, Ryan Shuwei & Chuang, Aichia & Wang, An-Chih, 2021. "Business founders' work design and new venture development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    18. Tippmann, Esther & Ambos, Tina C. & Del Giudice, Manlio & Monaghan, Sinéad & Ringov, Dimo, 2023. "Scale-ups and scaling in an international business context," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(1).
    19. Veroniek Collewaert & Frederik Anseel & Michiel Crommelinck & Alain De Beuckelaer & Jacob Vermeire, 2016. "When Passion Fades: Disentangling the Temporal Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Passion for Founding," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(6), pages 966-995, September.
    20. Hambrick, Donald C. & Crozier, Lynn M., 1985. "Stumblers and stars in the management of rapid growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 31-45.
    21. Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2022. "A Call for Research on the Scaling of Organizations and the Scaling of Social Impact," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 255-268, March.
    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. Mula, Claire & Zybura, Nora & Hipp, Thomas, 2024. "From digitalized start-up to scale-up: Opening the black box of scaling in digitalized firms towards a scaling process framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    2. Bohan, Sarah & Tippmann, Esther & Levie, Jonathan & Igoe, Josephine & Bowers, Blake, 2024. "What is scaling?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    3. Aishwarya Kakatkar & Holger Patzelt & Nicola Breugst, 2024. "Towards a Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Energy," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(4), pages 1037-1081, July.

    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. Hendrik Terbeck & Verena Rieger & Niels Van Quaquebeke & Andreas Engelen, 2022. "Once a Founder, Always a Founder? The Role of External Former Founders in Corporate Boards," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1284-1314, July.
    2. Bruce Martin & Lucia Walsh & Andrew Keating & Susi Geiger, 2024. "The Demise of a Rising Social Enterprise for Persons With Disabilities: The Ethics and the Uncertainty of Pure Effectual Logic When Scaling Up," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(1), pages 107-130, April.
    3. Paola Rovelli & Vincenzo Butticè, 2020. "On the organizational design of entrepreneurial ventures: the configurations of the entrepreneurial team," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(2), pages 243-269, June.
    4. Seung Hoon D. Chung & Simon C. Parker, 2023. "Founder affiliations: jobseeker reactions and impact on employee recruitment by start-up ventures," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 259-283, June.
    5. Mathias, Blake D. & Williams, David W., 2018. "Giving up the hats? Entrepreneurs' role transitions and venture growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 261-277.
    6. Anna Brattström, 2024. "Task Re-allocation in New Venture Teams: A Team Conflict Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 205-245, January.
    7. Jiayi Bao, 2022. "Social safety nets and new venture performance: The role of employee access to paid family leave benefits," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(12), pages 2545-2576, December.
    8. Vera Rocha & Mirjam van Praag, 2020. "Mind the gap: The role of gender in entrepreneurial career choice and social influence by founders," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 841-866, May.
    9. Becker, Kai & Ebbers, Joris J. & Engel, Yuval, 2023. "Network to passion or passion to network? Disentangling entrepreneurial passion selection and contagion effects among peers and teams in a startup accelerator," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4).
    10. Gregori, Patrick & Ukobitz, Desiree V. & Parastuty, Zulaicha, 2018. "A Conceptual Framework on Entrepreneurial Team Member Exits: A Starting Point for Further Research," 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disruptive Change (Dubrovnik, 2018), in: 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disrupt, pages 453-474, Governance Research and Development Centre (CIRU), Zagreb.
    11. Howell, Travis, 2022. "Coworking spaces: An overview and research agenda," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    12. McSweeney, Jordan J. & McSweeney, Kevin T. & Webb, Justin W. & Devers, Cynthia E., 2022. "The right touch of pitch assertiveness: Examining entrepreneurs' gender and project category fit in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    13. Louise Lindbjerg & Theodor Vladasel, 2021. "Hiring Entrepreneurs for Innovation," Working Papers 1309, Barcelona School of Economics.
    14. Nuscheler, Daniela & Engelen, Andreas & Zahra, Shaker A., 2019. "The role of top management teams in transforming technology-based new ventures' product introductions into growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 122-140.
    15. Murnieks, Charles Y. & Cardon, Melissa S. & Haynie, J. Michael, 2020. "Fueling the fire: Examining identity centrality, affective interpersonal commitment and gender as drivers of entrepreneurial passion," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1).
    16. Tina C. Ambos & Julian Birkinshaw, 2010. "How Do New Ventures Evolve? An Inductive Study of Archetype Changes in Science-Based Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(6), pages 1125-1140, December.
    17. De Cock, Robin & Andries, Petra & Clarysse, Bart, 2021. "How founder characteristics imprint ventures’ internationalization processes: The role of international experience and cognitive beliefs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    18. Boone, Sarah & Andries, Petra & Clarysse, Bart, 2020. "Does team entrepreneurial passion matter for relationship conflict and team performance? On the importance of fit between passion focus and venture development stage," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(5).
    19. Aegean Leung & Maw Der Foo & Sankalp Chaturvedi, 2013. "Imprinting Effects of Founding Core Teams on HR Values in New Ventures," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(1), pages 87-106, January.
    20. Sam Garg & Qiang John Li & Jason D. Shaw, 2019. "Entrepreneurial firms grow up: Board undervaluation, board evolution, and firm performance in newly public firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(11), pages 1882-1907, November.

    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:eee:jbvent:v:38:y:2023:i:4:s0883902623000290. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusvent .

    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.