The impact of risk aversion on serial entrepreneurs’ intentions for reentry: a quantitative analysis across 85 countries

Chen Zhou (), Bert M. Sadowski (), Cheng Fang () and Mengyu Ruan ()
Additional contact information
Chen Zhou: Jianghan University
Bert M. Sadowski: University of Technology Eindhoven
Cheng Fang: Jianghan University
Mengyu Ruan: Zhongnan University of Economics and Law

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 2025, vol. 21, issue 1, No 96, 36 pages

Abstract: Abstract Serial entrepreneurs can exhibit risk aversion after failure, which hinders them from re-engaging in new business activities. This study employs grounded theory-based qualitative analysis and multiple regression model-based quantitative research to integrate in-depth case analysis and phenomenon description with large-sample quantitative data, exploring the impact of risk aversion on serial entrepreneurs’ intentions for reentry. In the qualitative research, this study uses the relevant reports of serial entrepreneurs on the 36Kr website as original data to extract the “mindset recovery-opportunity management-intention formation” causal logic of serial entrepreneurs’ reentry intentions. On this basis, in the quantitative analysis, this study utilizes mixed cross-sectional data from 37,632 serial entrepreneurs from 85 countries collected in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database over the period 2014 to 2018 to verify hypotheses regarding the impact of risk aversion (RA) on reentry intentions (RI) and the mediating and moderating effects of entrepreneurial failure experience (EFE), entrepreneurial learning (EL), opportunity perception (OP), and social networks (SN) on the main effect. This study overcomes the limitations of a single method by combining qualitative and quantitative research. Concepts and categories identified through qualitative research can be measured and validated in quantitative research, forming a comprehensive research loop. This approach provides a more thorough theoretical understanding of the psychological characteristics of serial entrepreneurs and has significant implications for practical policy-making and entrepreneurial practice.

Keywords: Serial entrepreneurs; Risk aversion; Entrepreneurial reentry intention; Opportunity perception; Entrepreneurial learning; Entrepreneurial failure experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11365-025-01118-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:intemj:v:21:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11365-025-01118-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... urship/journal/11365

DOI: 10.1007/s11365-025-01118-0

Access Statistics for this article

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal is currently edited by Salvador Roig

More articles in International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().