创始成员离职率、高管团队异质性与创业企业成长

Founder Turnover,Top Management Team Heterogeneity,and Entrepreneurial Growth

创始成员离职对创业企业成长有重要影响,但已有研究对两者之间的关系存在分歧。一些学者认为创始成员离职作为企业的一种适应机制,为高管团队更新创造了空间,有利于创业企业更好地适应环境,实现成长;一些学者认为创始成员离职意味着人力资本和社会资本等具有"奠基"意义的资源流失,不利于创业企业成长。但已有研究缺少关于创始成员离职影响创业企业成长的中介机制和情景因素的理论解释和经验证据。整合已有研究观点,提出并检验创始成员离职率与创业企业成长的非线性关系。在此基础上,引入吸引-选择-消耗理论,探讨高管团队异质性在创始成员离职率与创业企业成长之间关系的中介作用以及高管团队行为整合的调节作用。采用问卷调查方法收集214份来自创业企业的有效问卷,运用层次回归分析对理论假设进行实证检验,揭示了创始成员离职率影响创业企业成长的内在机制。研究结果表明,①创始成员离职率与创业企业成长之间呈倒U形关系;②创始成员离职率与高管团队异质性之间存在负向关系;③高管团队异质性在创始成员离职率与创业企业成长的倒U形关系中起部分中介作用;④高管团队异质性与创业企业成长之间的倒U形关系受到高管团队行为整合的正向调节。研究表明,适度的创始成员离职率使高管团队异质性保持在适当水平,并在高管团队行为整合水平较高的情况下更有利于促进创业企业成长。研究结论厘清了对创始成员离职率是否以及如何影响创业企业成长这两个问题的认识,为创始成员离职率影响创业企业成长的中介机制和情景因素提供了新的解释和证据,对创业企业如何管理创始成员离职有重要实践启示。

Founder turnover has an important effect on the growth of entrepreneurial firms,yet studies on the relationship are decidedly mixed.Some scholars argue that founder turnover is an adaptive mechanism that can help entrepreneurial firms better adapt to their environment and thus achieve high growth by creating room for an update of the top management team.However,many scholars hold that founder turnover means a loss of foundational resources,such as human and social capital,and thus it negatively affects entrepreneurial growth.In addition,prior studies reveal little about the mediating mechanism and moderating conditions on the relationship between founder turnover and entrepreneurial growth.To fill these gaps while integrating previous research,this study proposes and examines a nonlinear relationship between founder turnover and entrepreneurial growth.Furthermore,it discusses the mediating effects of top management team( TMT)heterogeneity within such a nonlinear relationship and the moderating effects of TMT behavioral integration by introducing attraction-selection-attrition theory.With 214 valid questionnaires from entrepreneurial firms,the research hypotheses are tested using hierarchical regression analysis to reveal the underlying mechanism of the relationship between founder turnover and entrepreneurial growth.Our results show the following conclusions: ①founder turnover and entrepreneurial growth have an inverted U-shaped relationship;②founder turnover and TMT heterogeneity show a negative relationship;③TMT heterogeneity partially mediates the inverted U-shaped relationship between founder turnover and entrepreneurial growth;and④ the inverted U-shaped relationship between TMT heterogeneity and entrepreneurial growth is positively moderated by TMT behavioral integration.This study shows that a moderate level of founder turnover can facilitate fast entrepreneurial growth by keeping TMT heterogeneity at a moderate level under a high level of TMT behavioral integration.This study answers the following two questions: "Does founder turnover effect entrepreneurial growth"and"how does founder turnover effect entrepreneurial growth?"The research conclusions provide new empirical insights into the mediating mechanism and moderating conditions underlying the relationship between founder turnover and entrepreneurial growth and offers important practical recommendations for managing founder turnover.