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The Embeddedness of Firms in the Lives of Entrepreneurs and CEOs
Type
doctoral thesis
Date Issued
2024
Author(s)
Abstract
This doctoral thesis investigates how firms are influenced by past and present life events in the lives of entrepreneurs and CEOs. The three papers of this dissertation thereby focus on different facets of firms’ embeddedness in the lives of entrepreneurs and CEOs by investigating (1) the influence of parental divorce in childhood on entrepreneurs’ performance in adulthood; (2) the impact of CEO divorce on firm performance; and (3) the consequences of entrepreneurs’ life events for their firms.
The first paper investigates how entrepreneurs’ experience of parental divorce in early life affects their performance in entrepreneurship in adulthood. Drawing on life course theory, the paper outlines the processes linking parental divorce to entrepreneurial performance and introduces the parental family’s socioeconomic status as boundary condition. The hypotheses were tested using US data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and performing weighted moderated mediation analyses and weighted least squares analyses with entropy balancing weights.
The second paper examines how CEO divorce affects firm performance, thereby investigating boundary conditions related to the CEO’s life stage and the involvement of the CEO’s family in the firm. Hypotheses are developed outlining the moderating role of marriage duration, being parent of minor children, as well as the spouse’s and children’s involvement in the firm. Empirical analyses are performed applying a difference-in-differences design on a matched sample of privately held firms using data from Statistics Sweden covering the period from 2004 to 2014.
The third paper conceptually investigates the firm-level consequences of entrepreneurs’ life events through theoretical deduction and integration of theories from literatures on the work-life interface, human life span development, and on power-dependence relations. A dynamic multi-level theoretical framework is introduced that outlines the processes through which entrepreneurs’ life events incur changes in firm goals and firm performance, thereby also explaining boundary conditions and temporal patterns.
Overall, this dissertation advances a perspective of firms’ temporal embeddedness in entrepreneurs’ and CEOs’ past and present lives.
The first paper investigates how entrepreneurs’ experience of parental divorce in early life affects their performance in entrepreneurship in adulthood. Drawing on life course theory, the paper outlines the processes linking parental divorce to entrepreneurial performance and introduces the parental family’s socioeconomic status as boundary condition. The hypotheses were tested using US data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and performing weighted moderated mediation analyses and weighted least squares analyses with entropy balancing weights.
The second paper examines how CEO divorce affects firm performance, thereby investigating boundary conditions related to the CEO’s life stage and the involvement of the CEO’s family in the firm. Hypotheses are developed outlining the moderating role of marriage duration, being parent of minor children, as well as the spouse’s and children’s involvement in the firm. Empirical analyses are performed applying a difference-in-differences design on a matched sample of privately held firms using data from Statistics Sweden covering the period from 2004 to 2014.
The third paper conceptually investigates the firm-level consequences of entrepreneurs’ life events through theoretical deduction and integration of theories from literatures on the work-life interface, human life span development, and on power-dependence relations. A dynamic multi-level theoretical framework is introduced that outlines the processes through which entrepreneurs’ life events incur changes in firm goals and firm performance, thereby also explaining boundary conditions and temporal patterns.
Overall, this dissertation advances a perspective of firms’ temporal embeddedness in entrepreneurs’ and CEOs’ past and present lives.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community