Title: The effect of founding team characteristics on start-ups' performance: the case of Campania

Authors: Adele Parmentola; Michele Costagliola di Fiore

Addresses: Department of Management and Quantitative Studies (DISAQ), University of Naples 'Parthenope', Via Generale Parisi 13, 80132 Napoli (NA), Italy ' Department of Management and Quantitative Studies (DISAQ), University of Naples 'Parthenope', Via Generale Parisi 13, 80132 Napoli (NA), Italy

Abstract: There is a growing interest in the entrepreneurship literature on studying start-ups and how they can achieve high performance. Authors usually classify start-up growth factors into three main categories: entrepreneurs, firms, and socioeconomic environment characteristics. However, more recent studies have shown that many start-ups are founded by a team and not by a single entrepreneur. Consequently, the success of new ventures also depends on the founding team characteristics, especially focusing on team heterogeneity. This paper aims to investigate how entrepreneurial team heterogeneity affects start-up performance; based on our hypothesis, we empirically test this relationship in the context of Campania's innovative start-up ecosystem.

Keywords: founding team characteristics; entrepreneurial team heterogeneity; demographic heterogeneity; informational heterogeneity; personality heterogeneity; tenure heterogeneity; innovative start-ups; start-ups' performance; new venture performance; entrepreneurship; small business; Campania region.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2024.142445

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2024 Vol.53 No.4, pp.524 - 543

Received: 04 Sep 2021
Received in revised form: 15 Feb 2022
Accepted: 30 Oct 2022
Published online: 31 Oct 2024 *

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