@article{CaliendoKritikosStier2023,
  author    = {Caliendo, Marco and Kritikos, Alexander and Stier, Claudia},
  title     = {The influence of start-up motivation on entrepreneurial performance},
  series = {Small business economics},
  volume    = {61},
  journal   = {Small business economics},
  publisher = {Springer Science+Business Media},
  address   = {Dordrecht},
  issn      = {0921-898X},
  doi       = {10.1007/s11187-022-00722-6},
  pages     = {869 -- 889},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Predicting entrepreneurial development based on individual and business-related characteristics is a key objective of entrepreneurship research. In this context, we investigate whether the motives of becoming an entrepreneur influence the subsequent entrepreneurial development. In our analysis, we examine a broad range of business outcomes including survival and income, as well as job creation, and expansion and innovation activities for up to 40 months after business formation. Using the self-determination theory as conceptual background, we aggregate the start-up motives into a continuous motivational index. We show - based on a unique dataset of German start-ups from unemployment and non-unemployment - that the later business performance is better, the higher they score on this index. Effects are particularly strong for growth-oriented outcomes like innovation and expansion activities. In a next step, we examine three underlying motivational categories that we term opportunity, career ambition, and necessity. We show that individuals driven by opportunity motives perform better in terms of innovation and business expansion activities, while career ambition is positively associated with survival, income, and the probability of hiring employees. All effects are robust to the inclusion of a large battery of covariates that are proven to be important determinants of entrepreneurial performance.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CaliendoKuennWeissenberger2020,
  author    = {Caliendo, Marco and K{\"u}nn, Steffen and Weissenberger, Martin},
  title     = {Catching up or lagging behind?},
  series = {Research policy : policy, management and economic studies of science, technology and innovation},
  volume    = {49},
  journal   = {Research policy : policy, management and economic studies of science, technology and innovation},
  number    = {10},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0048-7333},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.respol.2020.104053},
  pages     = {14},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {From an active labor market policy perspective, start-up subsidies for unemployed individuals are very effective in improving long-term labor market outcomes for participants. From a business perspective, however, the assessment of these public programs is less clear since they might attract individuals with low entrepreneurial abilities and produce businesses with low survival rates and little contribution to job creation, economic growth, and innovation. In this paper, we use a rich data set to compare participants of a German start-up subsidy program for unemployed individuals to a group of regular founders who started from non-unemployment and did not receive the subsidy. The data allows us to analyze their business performance up until 40 months after business formation. We find that formerly subsidized founders lag behind not only in survival and job creation, but especially also in innovation activities. The gaps in these business outcomes are relatively constant or even widening over time. Hence, we do not see any indication of catching up in the longer run. While the gap in survival can be entirely explained by initial differences in observable start-up characteristics, the gap in business development remains and seems to be the result of restricted access to capital as well as differential business strategies and dynamics. Considering these conflicting results for the assessment of the subsidy program from an ALMP and business perspective, policy makers need to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of such a strategy to find the right policy mix.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CaliendoKritikosRodriguezetal.2023,
  author    = {Caliendo, Marco and Kritikos, Alexander and Rodr{\´i}guez, Daniel and Stier, Claudia},
  title     = {Self-efficacy and entrepreneurial performance of start-ups},
  series = {Small business economics},
  journal   = {Small business economics},
  publisher = {Springer Science},
  address   = {Dordrecht},
  issn      = {0921-898X},
  doi       = {10.1007/s11187-022-00728-0},
  pages     = {25},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Self-efficacy reflects the self-belief that one can persistently perform difficult and novel tasks while coping with adversity. As such beliefs reflect how individuals behave, think, and act, they are key for successful entrepreneurial activities. While existing literature mainly analyzes the influence of the task-related construct of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, we take a different perspective and investigate, based on a representative sample of 1,405 German business founders, how the personality characteristic of generalized self-efficacy influences start-up performance as measured by a broad set of business outcomes up to 19 months after business creation. Outcomes include start-up survival and entrepreneurial income, as well as growth-oriented outcomes such as job creation and innovation. We find statistically significant and economically important positive effects of high scores of self-efficacy on start-up survival and entrepreneurial income, which become even stronger when focusing on the growth-oriented outcome of innovation. Furthermore, we observe that generalized self-efficacy is similarly distributed between female and male business founders, with effects being partly stronger for female entrepreneurs. Our findings are important for policy instruments that are meant to support firm growth by facilitating the design of more target-oriented offers for training, coaching, and entrepreneurial incubators.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CaliendoGoethnerWeissenberger2019,
  author    = {Caliendo, Marco and Goethner, Maximilian and Weißenberger, Martin},
  title     = {Entrepreneurial persistence beyond survival: Measurement and determinants},
  series = {Journal of Small Business Management},
  volume    = {58},
  journal   = {Journal of Small Business Management},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Taylor \& Francis},
  address   = {London},
  pages     = {32},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Entrepreneurial persistence is demonstrated by an entrepreneur's continued positive maintenance of entrepreneurial motivation and constantly renewed active engagement in a new business venture despite counterforces or enticing alternatives. It thus is a crucial factor for entrepreneurs when pursuing and exploiting their business opportunities and in realizing potential economic gains and benefits. Using rich data on a representative sample of German business founders, we investigated the determinants of entrepreneurial persistence. Next to observed survival, we also constructed a hybrid persistence measure capturing the motivational dimension of persistence. We analyzed the influence of individual-level (human capital and personality) and business-related characteristics on both measures as well as their relative importance. We found that the two indicators emphasize different aspects of persistence. For the survival indicator, the predictive power was concentrated in business characteristics and human capital, while for hybrid persistence the dominant factors were business characteristics and personality. Finally, we showed that results were heterogeneous across subgroups. In particular, formerly unemployed founders did not differ in survival chances, but they were more likely to lack a high psychological commitment to their business ventures.},
  language  = {en}
}