Context matters: The importance of university and family for young nascent entrepreneurs

Abstract

Nascent entrepreneurs are those individuals who engage in start-up activities as part of the process of starting a new venture. In many cases, these activities lead to successful founding, but in some situations, the entrepreneur’s initial ideas go unrealized because the new venture cannot mobilize the necessary resources needed to create a fledging firm. In this paper, we look at the impact of the family and university social context on young student nascent entrepreneurs. Our findings based on Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey (GUESSS) wave in 2011 suggest that both family and university have a significant impact on the entrepreneurs’ progress through the venturing process. However, when we take a finergrained look, we find surprising gender differences. Female entrepreneurs rely on their strong family ties for support; however, they are also able to better utilize their weaker university connections to make progress through the venture creation process than are men. This suggests that for women, all types of social support are important in their venture creation processes.