nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2026–08–10
seven papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin, Université de Namur


  1. Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs and the Size of Their Firms By Berfin Kardaslar; Alexander S. Kritikos; Lukas Menkhoff
  2. The Impact of Large Plant Openings and Community Banks on Small Business Development By Ryan, Alexander
  3. Toward An Integrative Framework of Corporate Entrepreneurship Forms By Valentine Georget
  4. The IP Paradox for New Zealand Scientific Start-Ups: Navigating Value and Impediment in Technology Transfer By Mutsamwira, Sam
  5. Taxonomy of AI-Driven Micro-Educational Startups in Primary Education: An Analysis of 120 Digital Lean Canvases By Talebzadeh, Hossein
  6. Green Startup Report 2026 By Fichter, Klaus; Neumann, Thomas; Olteanu, Yasmin; Grothey, Tim; Block, Jörn
  7. Acquisitions, Entrepreneurial Capital, and Firm Performance By Pajarinen, Mika; Ylhäinen, Ilkka

  1. By: Berfin Kardaslar; Alexander S. Kritikos; Lukas Menkhoff
    Abstract: In this study, we examine the relationship between personality traits, captured by risk tolerance and the Big Five traits, and firm size, as measured by the number of employees. We show that the personality of entrepreneurs matters for the size of their firm they operate. We use a novel add-on to the German Socio-Economic Panel that includes a sub-sample of owner-managers running larger firms. High levels of risk tolerance – associated with an increased likelihood of firm exit in existing research – is positively associated with firm size for entrepreneurs in the market. High scores in extraversion are also associated with larger firms. However, a high level of openness for experience, a main driver of founding ventures, is negatively related to firm size. Overall, we show that running larger firms is associated with traits that are partially different from those that increase the likelihood of entrepreneurial entry or survival.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship, risk tolerance, Big Five personality traits, firm size
    JEL: L26 D81 J24
    Date: 2026
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2173
  2. By: Ryan, Alexander
    Abstract: To assist policymakers and economic developers in measuring the effectiveness of using firm-specific incentives to attract large manufacturing investments and catalyze broader economic development, I study the role of access to community bank capital in catalyzing spillovers from large manufacturing plants to small business development. I construct a novel dataset of large manufacturing plant openings between 2010 and 2018 and estimate the impact of these openings on small business lending, creation, and expansion in the local economy, using difference-in-differences designs with multiple control groups. The results suggest that community banks drive post-opening increases in small business lending, which translates to higher growth rates in small business creation and expansion. Small businesses in complementary industries experience the largest growth, while small businesses that may compete for labor and other resources do not. These findings will inform policymakers evaluating which places will benefit from place-based policies and financial regulators monitoring the consolidation of the banking industry.
    Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development
    Date: 2026
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404879
  3. By: Valentine Georget (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France; LEST, CNRS, Aix Marseille Univ, Aix-en-Provence, France)
    Abstract: The aim of this research is to strengthen the theoretical foundations of Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) by clarifying its empirical scope. Based on a multiple case study of CE forms implemented by twenty large French firms, the study presents an integrative framework structured around two dimensions: the location of CE actors (internal, external, or mixed) and the managerial orientation of CE (bottom-up, top-down, or hybrid). Their combination identifies nine generic CE forms, including an overlooked form-interpreneurship-which introduces an ecosystem perspective on CE.
    Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Internal Corporate Entrepreneurship; External Corporate Entrepreneurship; Interpreneurship; Innovation
    Date: 2026–07
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2026-19
  4. By: Mutsamwira, Sam
    Abstract: This study examines how scientist-entrepreneurs in New Zealand experience and navigate intellectual property (IP) during the technology transfer process. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with fourteen scientist-entrepreneurs, analysed via reflexive thematic analysis. The findings reveal a central IP Paradox; IP is simultaneously an indispensable prerequisite for technology transfer and a significant impediment. Useful theories, the Innovation Incentive Theory, Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship, and Resource-Based View, only partially explain this phenomenon, as managing IP introduces profound strategic tensions, costs, and uncertainties. The analysis elucidates the IP Paradox for scientific start-ups, which complements and adds on to these dominant theoretical frameworks, and then develops an IP Navigation Matrix as a sense-making and decision-support tool grounded in entrepreneurs’ lived experience. This provides a nuanced understanding of IP’s dual role, offering direct managerial and policy implications for improving technology transfer, supporting academic entrepreneurship, and fostering innovation in New Zealand and other small open economies. The findings also provide practical insights for IP practitioners advising scientific ventures in New Zealand. Keywords: intellectual property protection; scientific start-ups; patents; trade secrets; technology transfer; New Zealand
    Date: 2026–05–31
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ywp2a_v1
  5. By: Talebzadeh, Hossein
    Abstract: The aim of the present study is to develop a taxonomy and pedagogical evaluation of AI-driven micro-educational startups in primary education, based on the analysis of 120 digital business model canvases. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach and the directed content analysis method. The research population comprised all business model canvases generated by 120 female elementary-level student-teachers within the framework of a digital micro-entrepreneurship workshop, developed under the supervision of generative artificial intelligence. For data analysis, open, axial, and selective coding procedures were employed. The findings revealed that micro-educational startups can be categorized into five taxonomic levels: (1) digital educational content production (51.6%), (2) online educational services (23.3%), (3) interactive educational tool production (11.7%), (4) educational consulting and planning (8.3%), and (5) hybrid/multidimensional startups (5%). The dominant value propositions included time-saving (78%), enhanced learning appeal (65%), and personalized education (42%). Furthermore, pedagogical evaluation indicated that the process of designing and developing business models under AI supervision successfully transformed 92% of student-teachers' perspectives from "teacher as consumer" to "teacher as value-creator, " while also enhancing their financial resilience in the face of inflation. By proposing the theory of "AI-Augmented Entrepreneurship" and a five-level taxonomy, this research demonstrates that digital micro-entrepreneurship supported by generative AI can serve as an effective pedagogical strategy for economically empowering future teachers and contributing to the development of the educational entrepreneurship ecosystem.
    Date: 2026–07–26
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:edarxi:um9kg_v1
  6. By: Fichter, Klaus; Neumann, Thomas; Olteanu, Yasmin; Grothey, Tim; Block, Jörn
    Abstract: The Green Startup Report 2026, published by the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, analyzes the current development of the green startup landscape in Germany and continues the scientific observation of the scene that has been carried out continuously since 2013. The long-term perspective enables a reliable classification of structural trends, technological developments, and changes in startup dynamics. The green startup community has continued to grow and now comprises 4, 668 companies (founded between 2016 and 2025). Green startups make a key contribution to Germany's technological innovation capacity and climate protection performance as a business location. They are characterized by a high patent rate, above-average research intensity, and significant CO2 reduction potential. On average, their solutions reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70 percent compared to standard technologies on the market. At the same time, the report shows a decline in start-up momentum for the first time in years. Despite stable and growing green tech markets, shifts in political and public attention as well as regulatory uncertainties, particularly in capital-intensive sectors, are slowing further growth. The Green Startup Report 2026 thus provides a key data basis for the strategic development of German start-up, innovation, and climate policy.
    Keywords: green startups, climate protection potential, green startup ecosystem, Business model, Sustainable business model, Green tech business model, Impact potential, Energy transition, Sustainable chemistry, Sustainability, GreenTech, Climate Forward Financing
    Date: 2026
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esrepo:341854
  7. By: Pajarinen, Mika; Ylhäinen, Ilkka
    Abstract: Abstract We examine how entrepreneurial capital—wealth, experience, skills, and networks—released through acquisitions is reallocated to new and existing firms. We combine Finnish administrative data on firm exits, owners, board members and executives, and financial statements. We identify acquisitions from worker flows and estimate the performance of destination firms using difference-in-differences and doubly robust augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW) estimators. Entrepreneurs who sell their firms often continue in active ownership, board, and executive roles, especially in existing firms. Acquisition counterparties—acquirers and merger partners—experience substantially faster sales growth than control firms, but their labor productivity develops less favorably, particularly in the first post-acquisition years. Profitability improves relative to controls in the existing firms that former owners join. Newly founded destination firms have substantially higher sales than control firms. We find no evidence that reallocated entrepreneurial capital generates systematic productivity gains or increases the likelihood of equity financing relative to control firms.
    Keywords: Mergers and acquisitions, Entrepreneurial capital, Serial entrepreneurship, Firm dynamics, Firm Performance, Difference-in-differences
    JEL: C23 G32 G34 L25 L26
    Date: 2026–08–03
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:report:179

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