Title: Does management experience matter? An empirical investigation on the effects of management experience on SME firm growth in transition economies

Authors: Zhe Zhang; Justin T. Scott; John A. Parnell; Michael C. Osborne

Addresses: College of Business, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475, USA ' Sanders College of Business and Technology, University of North Alabama, P.O. Box 5017, Florence, AL 35632, USA ' Sanders College of Business and Technology, University of North Alabama, P.O. Box 5017, Florence, AL 35632, USA ' Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475, USA

Abstract: This paper draws from human capital and knowledge-based perspectives to examine the relationship between management experience and firm growth in transitional economies. Using a sample of over 20,000 small-medium firms covering 26 transition economies between 2007 and 2019 obtained from World Bank's enterprise survey data, we report a significant negative linear relationship between management experience and firm growth. Management experience shares a U-shaped curvilinear relationship with employment growth and sales growth. Institutional quality moderates the U-shaped curvilinear relationship between management experience and sales growth. This study underscores the importance of multiple performance measures - not just profitability - and operationalises firm growth by measuring both sales and employment growth.

Keywords: management experience; firm growth; institutional quality; transition economies; World Bank; employment growth; sales growth; absorptive capacity; Central and Eastern Europe; CEE; firm performance; upper echelons.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2023.136757

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2023 Vol.15 No.3, pp.391 - 413

Received: 09 Oct 2023
Accepted: 21 Dec 2023
Published online: 19 Feb 2024 *

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