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The study examines the role that societal levels of self-control – behavioral and cognitive self-control – play in shaping entrepreneurial intentions after both favorable and unfavorable prior exits.

Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data set on the nature of entrepreneurial exits from 32 countries between 2007 and 2010 and supplementing this data set with country-level scores of behavioral and cognitive self-controls, the authors test five hypotheses on the effects of societal levels of self-control on post-exit entrepreneurial intentions.

The study finds that individuals who exit entrepreneurship for negative reasons (versus positive reasons) are more likely to form entrepreneurial intentions. Further, societal levels of self-control moderate this likelihood.

The study invokes the psychological construct of self-control in the context of entrepreneurship. The novelty lies in rendering self-control as also a higher order societal level construct and then also empirically testing the role that societal self-control plays in shaping entrepreneurial intentions after prior exits. Societal self-control accounts for cross-country variance in why individuals in some societies are better suited and capable to return to entrepreneurship despite unfavorable prior exits.

This study investigates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and entrepreneurial exit, particularly how this relationship might be invigorated by two critical psychological factors, namely cognitive well-being (CWB) and affective well-being (AWB).

Binary logistic regression analysis was employed on a longitudinal data set of 997 self-employed individuals taken from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) during years 2012-2013.

Greater level of emotional exhaustion increases the likelihood of entrepreneurial exit. However, individuals with higher levels of affective or/and cognitive well-being are less likely to engage in the actual entrepreneurial exit behaviors.

Entrepreneurial exit is one of the crucial managerial decisions made by entrepreneurs. The decision to quit is not only triggered by poor firm performance but also by various psychological factors. The authors found subjective well-being as an essential mechanism promoting entrepreneurs’ overall well-being, thus recommending that entrepreneurs psychologically distance themselves from work during off times.

First, the study discovered emotional exhaustion as a crucial psychological precursor of entrepreneurial exit by focusing on actual exit instances rather than intentions and strategies to exit. That contributes to understanding the psychological mechanism involved in resource gain and loss while making exit decisions. Second, affective and cognitive well-being are found to be two crucial enablers that work as a recovery process to deal with emotional exhaustion.

This study aims to untangle how perceived barriers provoke entrepreneurial exit intentions during an entrepreneurial engagement. Drawing on the social cognitive theory (SCT), the study also theorizes the mediating role of self-efficacy and moderating effects of the nature of entrepreneurship activity (regular versus sustainable entrepreneurship) on the barriers–exit relationship.

The survey data were collected from 302 entrepreneurs in the UK in two waves using a time-lagged method and analyzed through the structural equation modeling technique

The results indicate that perceived barriers positively related to entrepreneurial exit intentions, whereas self-efficacy served as an effective intervening mechanism to untangle the barriers–exit relationship. In addition, consistent support was found for the moderating role of the nature of entrepreneurship activity for the hypothesized relationships.

The investigation unfolds that perceived barriers lead entrepreneurs to stimulate exit intentions. Therefore, it is recommended that all the stakeholders, including government, industries and academia, must collaborate and provide a favorable institutional environment where sustainable entrepreneurship can thrive and nourish.

Unlike studies that exhibited perceived barriers as an inhibitor to entrepreneurial intentions, the study theorizes the relevance of perceived barriers during entrepreneurial engagement and demonstrates how it determines entrepreneurial exit intentions. The study also comprehends the exiting knowledge by underpinning the SCT construct self-efficacy as an intervening factor in explaining the barriers–exit relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to the call by McMullen and Dimov (2013) for a clearer understanding of entrepreneurial journeys by investigating the entrepreneurial capitals and micro-processes of seven young early stage entrepreneurs who all exited their businesses within 3 years of start-up.

The authors analysed empirical data from concurrent in-depth interviews which generated rich longitudinal case studies. Theory-building then led to a proposed “Longitudinal Dynamic Process Framework” of entrepreneurial goals, processes and capitals.

The framework builds on prior studies by integrating entrepreneurial processes and decisions into two feedback loops based on continuous review and learning. It thereby enhances understanding of the dynamics of new business development and unfolds the early stage ventures entrepreneurs' business exits.

The findings are based on a small purposive sample. However, the main implication for research and theory is showing how the entrepreneurial capitals are dynamic and influenced by entrepreneurs' environment, and also separating entrepreneurs' personal issues from their business issues.

The findings challenge some assumptions of policymakers and offer new insights for practitioners and early stage entrepreneurs. These include having more realistic case-studies of the entrepreneurial journey, recognizing the need to be agile and tenacious to cope with challenges, understanding how capitals can interact in complementary ways and that entrepreneurial processes can be used to leverage them at appropriate stages of the start-ups.

The concurrent longitudinal analysis and theory-building complements extant cross-sectional studies by identifying and analysing the detailed processes of actual business start-ups and exits. The proposed framework thereby adds coherence to earlier studies and helps to explain early stage entrepreneurial development, transformation of capitals and business exit.

This study examines the family- and non-family-related reasons that may determine the choice of the anticipated entrepreneurial exit strategy (exit intention).

The study is based on a survey of 267 owner-managers of micro-and small-sized firms in Poland and focuses on their exit intentions (rather than actual actions) as precursors to entrepreneurial exit. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that family-related reasons may encourage entrepreneurs to choose the stewardship strategy over the financial harvest or voluntary cessation strategies, while non-family-related reasons such as maintaining financial independence and health may encourage the choice of the financial harvest or the voluntary cessation strategy.

This research contributes to both the entrepreneurial exit literature and psychological ownership theory by demonstrating the potential relevance of psychological ownership in the selection of exit strategies.

In this chapter we investigate the role of family-specific factors in facilitating or constraining business exit in family firms. Family business literature seems to have an implicit bias toward continuity and persistence in the founder's business. This is explained by heavy emotional involvement and development of path-dependent core competences over generations. However, several long-lived family firms were able to successfully exit the founder's business. Exit allowed them to free significant strategic resources, which were later reinvested in exploiting novel entrepreneurial opportunities. Our aim is to investigate the process of exit from the founder's business in family firms, to explain both triggers and obstacles to decommitment and de-escalation. We address this issue through the study of the Italian Falck Group's exit from the steel industry in the 1990s, followed by successful startup of a renewable energy business. By carefully triangulating different data sources and different voices within and outside the controlling family, we develop a framework describing family-specific facilitators and inhibitors of business exit, and subsequent startup of a new business. Three types of family-specific factors emerge as relevant in shaping a family firm's likelihood and speed of exit from a failing business: family-related psychological triggers and obstacles to business exit; family-specific components of the structural de-escalation context; family responses to ensuing de-escalation and exit needs. The emerging framework offers a more nuanced interpretation of decommitment activities in family firms, pointing to the differential role family-specific factors may play as facilitators or inhibitors of business exit. We also suggest how these family-specific results may contribute to a deeper understanding of exit in nonfamily firms. Our results also have practical implications for family business entrepreneurial management. Actively managing the different determinants of exit choices that emerged from our study will set the stage for de-escalation from a failing course of action – a dynamic capability all family firms should learn and practice if they intend to transfer their entrepreneurial orientation to next generations.

The purpose is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ exit strategies and modes of entry. The topic of exit strategies in the context of approaching retirement warrants further attention.

We apply logistic regression to analyse 1,192 responses to an online survey of firms with entrepreneurs aged over 55.

Family successors are more likely to choose family succession and buyers to choose to sell, but the association between founding and exit mode cannot be confirmed. Firm size is also significant. Our findings suggest that entry and exit via a business transfer are linked. Entrepreneurs might be influenced by their form of entry when choosing their exit strategy.

The data were collected from a single European country, limiting generalisation. Future research should incorporate intervening variables not controlled for here, such as, entrepreneurial experience. Future studies should also seek to test the existence of imprinting directly, as it is implied rather than verified here.

If the entry mode has a lasting effect on the entrepreneur as our results suggest, thus influencing the exit strategy selected, entrepreneurs could benefit from greater awareness of the imprinting mechanism. Increasing awareness of imprinted biases could unlock the benefits of exit strategies previously overlooked.

The study is the first to consider sale, family succession and liquidation as exit strategies in relation to the original entry mode of ageing owners. It contributes to the understanding of exit strategies of ageing entrepreneurs and proposes using entrepreneurial learning and imprinting as lenses to clarify the phenomenon.

This study aims to analyze the impact of different exit alternatives, investor presence and founders’ human capital on the exit value of European venture capital (VC)-backed high technology startups.

The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 107 European firms that obtained an exit through Merger&Acquisition (M&A) or an initial public offering (IPO) between 2010 and 2017, backed by VC investors.

This study provides empirical evidence on how different exit alternatives, investor heterogeneity and founders’ human capital may affect the exit value of European VC-backed startups. Exiting through an IPO and retaining a larger equity stake are positively correlated with the exit value. The presence of business angels and non-governmental VC firms is associated with larger valuations. Founders’ previous education was positively correlated with the exit value.

Exit strategies in technology startups are essential to capitalize investors’ efforts and reinvest cash into new ventures, supporting the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems and countries’ competitiveness. The results of this study provide interesting hints for policymakers and contribute to an in-depth understanding of the drivers of exit valuation for startups.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how family support affects challenge and hindrance appraisals, which in turn, influence entrepreneurs’ venture exit intention drawing on the challenge-hindrance job stressor model, family support, and the venture exit literature.

An experimental study (Study 1) was conducted to establish the relationships among family support, challenge and hindrance appraisals, and entrepreneurs’ venture exit intention. Two survey studies (Study 2 and Study 3) were conducted to extend the external validity of findings in Study 1 and to examine whether the theoretical framework holds in both the US and Chinese contexts.

All three studies demonstrate that family support decreases entrepreneurs’ venture exit intention by reducing hindrance appraisal. Study 3 also shows the mediating role of challenge appraisal in the family support – venture exit intention relationship.

This research contributes to the family embeddedness perspective not only by showing its relevance to the venture exit context but also by validating the relationship of family support with cognitive appraisals and venture exit intention in two cultural contexts. It also contributes to venture exit research by highlighting the unique role of cognitive appraisals in the formation of entrepreneurs’ venture exit intention.