The relationship between origin and performance of innovative start-ups: the role of technological knowledge at founding

Tommaso Minola (), Davide Hahn () and Lucio Cassia ()
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Tommaso Minola: University of Bergamo
Davide Hahn: University of Bergamo
Lucio Cassia: University of Bergamo

Small Business Economics, 2021, vol. 56, issue 2, No 3, 553-569

Abstract: Abstract According to the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE), the majority of innovative start-ups take advantage of the knowledge originated in incumbent firms or universities. However, little is known on how innovative start-ups’ heterogeneous originating contexts affect their performance differences at founding. To address this gap, we complement the KSTE with the resource-based view of the firm to hypothesize how the origin of innovative start-ups affects their initial technological knowledge and, in turn, performance at founding. We test the model using a sample of 338 innovative start-ups. Our results show that innovative start-ups that originated from university report a performance advantage since, right from their origin, their technological knowledge displays a broad scope and higher levels of newness.

Keywords: Innovative start-ups; Technological knowledge; Performance; Knowledge spillover; Resource-based view (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L25 O31 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-019-00189-y

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