DECIDING TO DISCOVER ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES: A MULTI-LEVEL INVESTIGATION BASED ON INFORMATIONAL ECONOMICS AND RESOURCE DEPENDENCE THEORY

Shanshan Qian, Dalong Ma and Chao Miao
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Shanshan Qian: Department of Management, College of Business and Economics, Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252, USA
Dalong Ma: Steven L. Craig School of Business, Missouri Western State University, St. Joseph, MO 64507, USA
Chao Miao: Finance, Accounting and Management Department, Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Leadership, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766, USA

Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), 2016, vol. 21, issue 02, 1-19

Abstract: Under what circumstance do entrepreneurs decide to discover entrepreneurial opportunities to start new businesses? Informational economics suggests when entrepreneurs possess prior specific knowledge, they decide to discover opportunities. This paper contributes to informational economics perspective by taking resource dependence theory into consideration. Utilizing a conjoint experiment and a multilevel analysis of 66 student entrepreneurs, we found that students’ prior specific knowledge significantly influences students’ decision to discover opportunities. Further, we found that power imbalance moderates the relationship between prior specific knowledge and students’ decisions to discover opportunities. Our paper has theoretical implications and practical implications for entrepreneurs, educators and policy makers.

Keywords: Informational economics; entrepreneurs; resource dependence theory; conjoint analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1142/S1084946716500096

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