Just Do It? A Configurational Approach to Entrepreneurial (In)Action and its Influence on Prolonged Nascent Entrepreneurship

Action is central to entrepreneurship, especially for nascent entrepreneurs (NEs) pursuing firm emergence via sustained profitability. Though the literature explaining entrepreneurial action among established entrepreneurs is growing rapidly, our understanding of entrepreneurial action (and inaction) among NEs is limited in explaining why they initiate or choose to avoid specific startup activities. To address this research problem, I draw on entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) perspectives along with utility maximization and identity theories. In essay 1, with a sample of 80 NEs, I will use fuzzy set/qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA) to analyze the multiple configurations (combinations) of cognitive and dispositional factors that lead NEs either to initiate or avoid specific startup activities. Understanding why NEs initiate or avoid startup activities is critical because the type and the timing of startup activities initiated (if at all) may influence prolonged nascent entrepreneurship, whereby NEs report a continued state of trying to reach firm emergence, beyond the standard duration of time necessary for their ecosystem. Accordingly, in essay two, I draw on construal level theory to examine whether specific types of activities, when enacted at specific times, can limit the incidence of prolonged nascent entrepreneurship. I utilize data from 1,779 nascent firms associated with a lead NE to estimate the probability of both firm emergence and discontinuance (i.e., quitting) relative to prolonged nascent entrepreneurship. Preliminary results show that specific types of startup activities that suggest reductions in psychological distance, when enacted at specific times, reduce the probability of prolonged nascent entrepreneurship relative to firm emergence. Understanding prolonged nascent entrepreneurship is critical because limiting its incidence can save time, money, and other overinvestments of resources associated with a prolonged startup phase.