Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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Author: search.filters.author.Van Gelderen, MarcoSubject: search.filters.subject.350000 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Success and risk factors in the pre-startup phase
    (Springer, 2006) Van Gelderen, Marco; Thurik, Roy; Bosma, Niels
    Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second person gives up? In order to answer this question, a sample of 517 nascent entrepreneurs (people in the process of setting up a business) was followed over a three-year period. After this period, it was established that 195 efforts were successful and that 115 startup efforts were abandoned. Our research focuses on estimating the relative importance of a variety of approaches and variables in explaining pre-startup success. These influences are organized in terms of Gartner's (1985) framework of new venture creation. This framework suggests that start-up efforts differ in terms of the characteristics of the individual(s) who start the venture, the organization that they create, the environment surrounding the new venture, and the process by which the new venture is started. Logistic regression analyses are run for the sample as a whole as well as for subgroups within the sample, namely for those with high ambition vs. low ambition and for those with substantial vs. limited experience. The results point to the importance of perceived risk of the market as a predictor of getting started vs. abandoning the startup effort.
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    Learning opportunities and learning behaviours of small business starters: Relations with goal achievement, skill development and satisfaction
    (Springer, 2005) Van Gelderen, Marco; Van der Sluis, Lidewey; Jansen, Paul
    Learning is a vital issue for small business starters, contributing to short term and long term business performance, as well as to personal development. This study investigates when and how small business starters learn. It specifies the situations that offer learning opportunities, as well as the learning behaviours that small business starters can employ in order to learn from these opportunities. In a cross-sectional, quantitative study of recently started small business founders, learning opportunities and learning behaviours are related to three outcome measures: a performance outcome (goal achievement), a personal growth outcome (skill development), and an affective evaluation outcome (satisfaction). The results show the importance of learning opportunities and learning behaviours in influencing these outcome variables, albeit not always in the directions we hypothesized.
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    Autonomy as a start-up motive
    (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2006) Van Gelderen, Marco; Jansen, Paul
    Autonomy is a primary motive for a large majority of small business starters. However, as an explanation of why people want their own (autonomous) business it is largely circular. Therefore we focus on an explanation of the autonomy motive itself. Specifically, it is questioned why small business starters want autonomy. In answering this question a two level distinction is made. The motivation for autonomy can be an end in itself. The small business starter is then motivated by the decisional freedoms and responsibilities with regard to the what, how, and when aspects of work. Autonomy can also be instrumental for the fulfillment of still other motives. We suggest that this is the case for three motives in particular: resistance towards bosses or rules, self-congruence/self-endorsement, and power/ control. Our framework is confirmed studying a sample of 167 nascent entrepreneurs motivated by autonomy.
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    Meaning in life as an opportunity for enterprise
    (World Scientific, 2006) Van Gelderen, Marco
    This paper’s starting point is the idea that a market for meaning in life exists that consists of several submarkets. Suppose someone wants to enter this market with a business or organization that tries to alleviate meaninglessness. How can the person shape the proposition that he or she wants to offer? We propose that Baumeister’s (1992) theory of needs for meaning can serve as a useful tool. Bau-meister states that meaning is generated when the needs for a goal, fulfillment, context, control, and self-worth are simultaneously met. Taking the market for alternative spiritual courses as a case ex-ample, we show that this theory is adequate for describing the variety of alternative spiritual courses in terms of a limited number of meaning models. Would-be providers on the market for meaning in life can create propositions by following, reordering, or creating meaning models. Examples of such propositions are given for a number of submarkets.
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    Enterprising behaviour of ordinary people
    (Psychology Press, 2000) Van Gelderen, Marco
    Starting out with the idea that everybody is in principle capable of enterprising behaviour, the concept of enterprise is applied to non-business people as well as business people. A random sample of people is asked to furnish an example of enterprising behaviour that they have shown themselves. Further, they are asked what is enterprising about this behaviour. The results show that in different realms of enterprising behaviour different dimensions of enterprise are mentioned. For example, people giving an example from their leisure time regard merely being active as enterprising, employees mention risky elements in their work, business owners emphasize autonomy, and students regard it as enterprising that they work for their professional or personal development. So people can be enterprising in different areas of life and in different manners. Obtaining a domain of enterprising behaviours and dimensions is a first step in constructing a scale of ''enterprising behaviour of ordinary people''.
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    Explaining entrepreneurial intentions by means of the theory of planned behavior
    (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2006) Van Gelderen, Marco; Brand, Maryse; van Praag, Mirjam; Bodewes, Wynand; Poutsma, Eric; van Gils, Anita
    This paper provides a detailed explanation of entrepreneurial intentions among business students. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is employed, which regards intentions as resulting from attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms. Our main study is replicated among samples of undergraduate students of business administration at four different universities (total N=1225). We use five operationalizations of intentions, as well as a composite measure. Prior to our main study the components of the TPB were operationalized based on qualitative work at yet two other universities (total N=373). The results show that the two variables that most consistently explain entrepreneurial intentions are entrepreneurial alertness, and the importance attached to financial security.