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PublicationArticle (with peer review)

Working for an entrepreneur: heaven or hell?

Abstract

Recruiting employees to an entrepreneurial venture is a challenging task. From the employee’s perspective, accepting a position in an entrepreneurial venture potentially implies considerable uncertainty. This paper provide a literature review and identifies research gaps related to labor mobility of employees into and out of entrepreneurial firms. Who works for an entrepreneur? What are the conditions under which the employees of entrepreneurial firms work? Additionally, labor mobility after an employee works for an entrepreneurial firm is discussed. In conclusion, the quality of the jobs generated by entrepreneurial firms may be questionable (and still relatively unexplored in empirical research), but they are nevertheless important from a labor dynamic perspective. Better understanding about motives to work for an entrepreneur, issues related to job security beyond survival rates, and job quality may contribute to ease the recruitment problems that many entrepreneurial firms struggle with. Furthermore, the relevance and potential pros and cons of working for an entrepreneurial firm in future career paths (entrepreneur or employee) need to be carefully addressed in future research.

Nyström, K. (2021) Working for an entrepreneur: heaven or hell?Small Business Economics, 56, 919-931. DOI: 10.1007/s11187-019-00276-0

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Author: Nyström, K.
Publication year: 2021
Published in: Small Business Economics

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Kristina Nyström
+46703133478kristina.nystrom@ratio.se

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Article (with peer review)

Tech-entrepreneurs’ psychological contracts with their institutional environment: Insights from Sweden

Eib, C., & Weidenstedt, L.

Publication year

2025

Published in

Economic and Industrial Democracy

Abstract

This qualitative interview study examines how high-tech entrepreneurs in Sweden (N = 11) perceive their contextual prerequisites and the expectations they hold towards their broader social and institutional environment. Findings from a thematic analysis reveal that participants have implicit expectations towards society and the state that are not being met, leading to frustrations, perceptions of unfairness, and cynicism. Through the lens of psychological contract theory, we demonstrate how the contextual framework shapes expectations and experiences of entrepreneurs, contributing to both psychological contract theory and to the contextualization of entrepreneurship.

Less from More: China Built Wind Power, but Gained Little Electricity

Publication year

2022

Published in

Questioning the Entrepreneurial State, 219.

Abstract

This chapter investigates Chinese wind power development and concludes that innovation cannot be pushed by the efforts of many, and that when the state clarifies directions and objectives, these can be achieved but with severe and unexpected side effects. Two topics are explored: wind curtailment and low technological development, both examples of unproductive entrepreneurship induced by government policies. The goal of wind power capacity expansion leads to construction (i.e., generation capacity) but little electricity. Examples of failures include low grid connectivity with, some years averaging 15% of generation capacity broken or unconnected to the grid. A key lesson for Europe is that forced innovation often amounts to little and that the old saying holds up: “no plan survives contact with reality.”

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Article (with peer review)

Government-sponsored entrepreneurship education: Is less more?

Sjöö, K., Elert, N. & Wennberg, K.

Publication year

2020

Published in

International Review of Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Entrepreneurship research suggests that entrepreneurship education and training can bridge the gender gap in entrepreneurship, but little empirical research exists assessing the validity and impact of such initiatives. We examine a large government-sponsored entrepreneurship education program aimed at university students in Sweden. While a pre-study indicates that longer university courses are associated with short-term outcomes such as increased self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions, results from a more comprehensive study using a pre-post design suggest little effect from these extensive courses on long-term outcomes such as new venture creation and entrepreneurial income. In contrast, we do find positive effects on these long-term outcomes from more limited but more specific training interventions, especially for women. Our study suggests that less extensive but more tailored interventions can be more beneficial than longer or more extensive interventions in promoting entrepreneurship in general, and entrepreneurship of underrepresented groups in particular. We discuss implications for theory, education, and policy.