中国式创业失败:归因、学习和后续决策

Chinese Entrepreneurial Failure:Attribution,Learning,and Subsequent Decision-making

失败是多数创业活动的必然结果,创业者对创业失败的行为反应是创业研究的一个重要议题。意义建构是一个嵌入式的社会化过程,文化是影响创业者意义建构创业失败的重要因素,中国创业者对创业失败的行为反应可能有别于西方创业者。然而,已有关于创业失败的研究主要来自欧美国家,对中国创业者在创业失败之后的行为研究很少。此外,中国的相关研究主要是概念性研究,缺少质化或量化的证据。因此,有必要探索中国情景下创业者在创业失败后的行为反应的独特规律。基于文化比较视角,使用中国创业失败的典型事例,采用扎根理论设计,以中国创业者对创业失败的归因、学习和后续决策为切入点进行探索性研究,并与欧美研究的结果进行比较。通过霍夫斯泰德文化维度理论对中西方创业者在创业失败之后的行为差异进行分析并提供解释,提出中国式创业失败在归因、学习和后续决策方面的7个命题。研究结果表明,与欧美创业者相比,中国创业者在创业失败后的总体归因倾向、内部归因倾向、外部归因倾向、学习内容、学习导向和后续创业意向等方面存在独特规律;文化是创业者在创业失败之后行为反应的重要影响因素,不同文化维度的具体取向会对创业者在创业失败后的行为反应产生不同的影响。研究结果增强了对中国创业者如何对创业失败归因、如何从创业失败中学习以及在创业失败之后倾向选择坚持还是放弃这3个问题的认识,为中国本土化的创业失败研究提供了经验证据;强调了文化在创业失败研究中的重要作用;深化和拓展了创业失败归因、学习和后续决策的相关理论,为未来进一步的理论研究提供了思路。研究结论为创业者管理失败、推动创业教育改革、营造更有利于连环创业的制度环境提供了有针对性的建议。

Failure is the inevitable outcome of most entrepreneurial activities. Examining entrepreneurs＇ behavioral responses to entrepreneurial failure is an important area in entrepreneurial research. Sense-making theory posits that sense-making is an embedded socialization process and that culture is a crucial factor that affects entrepreneurs＇ sense-making of entrepreneurial failure. Chinese entrepreneurs＇ responses to entrepreneurial failure may be different from those of Western entrepreneurs. However, research on entrepreneurial failure has mainly been conducted in Europe and America. Thus, Chinese entrepreneurs＇ unique behavior following entrepreneurial failure remains underexplored. In addition, studies published in domestic journals are mostly conceptual and lack qualitative or quantitative evidence. Therefore, it is necessary to explore entrepreneurs＇ behavior after entre- preneurial failure in China＇s unique context. Based on the cultural comparison perspective, this paper studies typical examples of Chinese entrepreneurial failure, using grounded theory design to explore Chinese entrepreneurs＇ attribution, learning, and subsequent decision-making, and comparingthe findings with those found in Europe and America. The findings indicate that compared with European and American entrepreneurs, Chinese entrepreneurs are unique in their overall attribution tendency, internal attribution tendency, external attribution tendency, learning content, learning orientation and subsequent decision-making after entrepreneurial failure ; Culture is the main factor that influences entrepreneurial behavioral responses after entrepreneurial failure. The specific orientation of different cultural dimensions will have different effects on entrepreneurs＇ behavioral responses after entrepreneurial failure. This research answers the following three questions： ＂How do Chinese entrepreneurs attribute their entrepreneurial failure？＂ ＂How do Chinese entrepreneurs learn from their entrepreneurial failure, and what do they tend to learn from it？＂ and ＂Do Chinese entrepreneurs tend to pull the plug or take the plunge after entrepreneurial failure？＂ Answering these questions provides empirical evidence for the study of entrepreneurial failure in China, emphasizes the important role of culture in the study of entrepre- neurial failure, and deepens and expands the related theories of attribution, learning, and subsequent decision-making after entrepreneurial failure. This study also provides general ideas for further theoretical research in the future. The research conclusions provide targeted suggestions for entrepreneurs＇ effective management of entrepreneurial failure, entrepreneurial educators＇ targeted reform of entrepreneurial education, and policy makers＇ appropriate creation of institutional environment that is more conducive to serial entrepreneurship.