Going Alone or Together? A Configurational Analysis of Solo Founding vs. Cofounding

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Howell, Travis; Bingham, Christopher; Hendricks, Bradley
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Irvine; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.1548
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 2421-2450
• 关键词: founders; founding teams; entrepreneurship; QCA; configurational theory

摘要

Research and practice suggest that cofounded ventures outperformsolo-founded ventures. Yet, little work has explored the conditions under which solo founding might be preferable to cofounding. Combining an inductive case-oriented analysis with a Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 70 new entrepreneurial ventures, we examine why and how solo founders can be as successful as their peers in cofounded ventures. We find that successful solo founders strategically use a set of cocreators rather than cofounders to overcome liabilities, retain control, and mobilize resources in unique and unexpected ways. A primary contribution of this paper is an emergent configurational theory of entrepreneurial organizing. Overall, we reveal the broader significance and theoretical importance of adopting a configurational lens for both practitioners and scholars of entrepreneurship.