Vision and support in new venture start-ups : an exploratory study of Newfoundland firms

• Main Author: Hanlon, Dennis J.
• Other Authors: Stirling Management School, Department of Management and Organization
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Stirling 1999
• Subjects: New business enterprises Newfoundland and Labrador; New business enterprises Canada; Small business planning; Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2606; http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/2606/1/Hanlon%20%281999%29%20-%20Vision%20and%20Support%20in%20New%20Venture%20Start-Ups%20-%20An%20Exploratory%20Study%20of%20Newfoundland%20Firms.pdf

In seeking to account for variation in the performance of new and small firms entrepreneurship theory has experienced a shift away from approaches which attribute success to personal characteristics in favour of approaches emphasizing the social context of resource acquisition and mobilization. This study develops and tests a new theoretical model concerning relations between vision, support and new venture performance based on Sooklal's (1991) grounded theory of visionary leadership. In doing so, it addresses theoretical and methodological weaknesses associated with past efforts. Four stages of data collection were required to execute the study. Phases One and Two were used to develop the instrumentation for measuring entrepreneurial vision. Phase Three was a small-scale pilot study. Phase Four, the main component of the study, was utilized to test the research hypotheses. This final phase entailed semi-structured interviews with a random sample of 50 Newfoundland firms incorporated in 1993. Employing Wold's method of Partial Least Squares analysis, five of the nine hypotheses concerning relations amongst seven theoretical constructs were statistically significant. In general, there was strong support for the contribution of both vision and support in the theoretical model. Higher performance were found to be positively influenced by both vision reach (i. e. the "ambitiousness" of the vision) and the strength of received support. Increased support strength was associated with greater vision reach and greater diversity of value-based (i. e. without expectation of reciprocal benefit) and convenience-based (i. e. relationships based on economic exchange) supporters. Contrary to expectations, visions that focused on either internal or external dimensions were associated with greater insider and outsider supporter diversity. The relative importance of predictor constructs in the model was substantially different for urban versus rural firms. Overall, the model was found to possess useful predictive power. The ...