Research

Published and Forthcoming Articles (Selected)

2025

1. How Digital Platforms Affect Local Entrepreneurial Activities: Evidence from the Staggered Entry of Craigslist

   Daehyun Kim, Yongwook Paik, and Namil Kim

   Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (FT50), 2025

   Abstract Journal

   Access to markets is critical for entrepreneurial success, yet many face significant barriers. This study argues that digital platforms functioning as peer-to-peer marketplaces can facilitate entrepreneurial activity by improving market access for new ventures. Using the staggered entry of Craigslist into various markets, we find that Craigslist’s entry increased local entrepreneurial activities, especially in low-income regions. Moreover, individuals from lower-income households, as well as Black and immigrant communities, were more likely to create new ventures following Craigslist’s entry. Firms founded after Craigslist’s entry were also smaller in size, potentially reflecting more efficient management, and primarily operated in B2C rather than B2B sectors. This study highlights how multisided platforms can empower individuals with limited market accessand resources, ultimately democratizing entrepreneurship in the digital age.

2. Anti-Labor Environments and Employee Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Right-To-Work Laws

   Daehyun Kim, Namil Kim, and Haemin Dennis Park

   Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (FT50), 2025

   Abstract Journal

   We explore how changes in labor union and related labor environments affect employees’ likelihood of starting a new business. Using Michigan’s and Indiana’s adoption of right-to-work (RTW) laws as a natural experiment, we demonstrate that the likelihood of employees becoming self-employed increased by 54.6% as compared to that in states without RTW laws following the passage of the law. However, this tendency is more pronounced for less-educated and blue-collar workers. Moreover, newly created-firms are mostly small businesses with limited scalability. These findings offer novel insights on the relationship between anti-labor environments and employee entrepreneurship.

3. When Automation Hits Jobs: Entrepreneurship as an Alternative Career Path

   Daehyun Kim, Taekyun Kim, Wonjoon Kim, and Hyejin Youn

   PLOS One, 2025

   Abstract Journal

   This study investigates the relationship between occupational automation risks and workers’ transitions to entrepreneurship using data from the Current Population Survey. We find that employees facing automation-related job displacement are inclined to shift toward unincorporated entrepreneurship, emphasizing entrepreneurship as a viable alternative career path. Noteworthy variations emerge when examining specific automation technologies, revealing a positive association between industrial robots and entrepreneurial transitions, whereas artificial intelligence displays a negative relationship. Gender disparities are observed, with female workers exhibiting a lower likelihood than males of transitioning into entrepreneurship. This study also shows a heightened prominence of entrepreneurial transitions during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. By illuminating entrepreneurship as a response to job displacement, our results offer crucial policy insights into the labor market implications of automation.

Manuscripts Under Review

current

1. How Does Publicly Available Knowledge Affect Interfirm Hiring?

   Shu Deng, Haemin Dennis Park, and Daehyun Kim

   1^st Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Management Studies (FT50)

   Abstract SSRN

   Increased availability of public knowledge may diminish the necessity of hiring inventors for codified knowledge, but it may heighten the demand for inventors with tacit knowledge to utilize public knowledge. By using the enactment of the American Inventor’s Protection Act (AIPA) as a shock that increased publicly available knowledge through mandated patent disclosure, we find that firms with greater exposure to AIPA hire fewer inventors who possess less complex knowledge while hiring more inventors who possess highly complex knowledge. Further analyses reveal that both the substitution and complementation effects are less pronounced for firms with highly novel technological portfolios, whereas they are more pronounced for firms with greater technological capability.

2. Unpacking the Entrepreneurial Process after Failure: The Role of Attribution and Behavioral Responses in Technology-Based Startups

   Daehyun Kim, Haejun Jung, Aaron Chatterji, Wonjoon Kim, and Sunghyun Cho

   1^st Revise and Resubmit, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (FT50)

   Abstract

   This study examines why entrepreneurs perceive the causes of failure differently and how these attributions relate to post-failure processes. Using a unique survey of failed entrepreneurs, we find that those with prior external financing are more likely to attribute failure to internal factors, since receiving such critical resources for startup success makes external causes less plausible. We further show that such internal attribution is negatively associated with reentry. Next, among serial entrepreneurs who do reenter, attribution is related to strategic change: internal attribution is associated with revising the business model, whereas technology change occurs mainly when shortcomings are perceived as the cause. Finally, entrepreneurs who revised their business model or technology after failure were more likely to secure venture capital through such internal changes.

3. Entrepreneurial Training and Startup Internationalization: Evidence from the German Accelerator Program

   David Heller, Daehyun Kim, and Dietmar Harhoff

   Under Review

   • Award: European Investment Fund Best Paper Award on Highest Policy Impact, 2025
   • Note: CEPR Discussion Paper No. 20888

   Abstract SSRN

   The benefits and challenges of accessing international markets as a key strategy for many entrepreneurial ventures are well-known. But how can we effectively support startups’ expansion into foreign markets? This study takes an initial step to answer this question, arguing that entrepreneurial training can provide crucial experiential learning opportunities that foster startup internationalization. To empirically test our predictions, we explore a unique combination of proprietary application data from the German Accelerator (GA), a government-financed program that offers startups an international learning journey, and detailed startup- and founder-level information from Crunchbase and Revelio Labs, as well as qualitative evidence from a survey of GA alumni. We find that the average GA participant raises significantly more funding and hires more employees in the GA’s target countries, but not in their home markets, relative to a comparison group of startups that were admitted but did not attend for exogenous reasons. Quantitative and qualitative evidence suggests that in-person interactions in the target country are essential for eliciting these effects and that startups with limited prior international experience benefit most from participating in the program, both of which support our theoretical considerations about experiential learning.

4. Technological Uniqueness and Venture Capital Investment

   Daehyun Kim, Haemin Dennis Park, and Shu Deng

   Under Review

   Abstract SSRN

   We explore how the technological uniqueness of startups influences their likelihood of securing venture capital (VC) funding and the conditions under which such a relationship varies. Using a text-based approach that maps startups in the technology space, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between technological uniqueness and the probability of receiving first-round VC funding. Startups with moderate uniqueness are more likely to receive investment, whereas those with very low or very high uniqueness are less likely to be funded. This pattern, however, varies with the degree of startup–VC alignment, captured by the technological and industry similarity between startups and VC portfolios. Greater alignment reduces the perceived risks of highly unique technologies, shifting the peak of the inverted U-shaped relationship toward higher uniqueness, thereby making startups with greater uniqueness more likely to receive funding. These findings suggest a familiarization mechanism whereby familiarity with related technologies or industries helps VCs interpret and assess novelty more effectively and mitigate the uncertainty surrounding unique startups. Our study contributes to research on optimal distinctiveness and entrepreneurial resource acquisition by highlighting the role of investor-side characteristics in shaping how technological uniqueness is evaluated. It also offers a new text-based approach for measuring startups’ technological positioning, providing a useful tool for future work on innovation and early-stage funding.

5. Employee-Friendly but Costly Workplace Practices? Evidence from Paid Family Leave Policies and Venture Capital Investments

   Daehyun Kim, Yongwook Paik, and Shu Deng

   • Award: Best Paper Award, Korean Academic Society of Business Administration (KASBA), 2025
   • Media Cover: Maeil Business Newspaper

   Abstract SSRN

   This study investigates the effect of paid family leave (PFL) policies—an institutional intervention—on venture capital (VC) investment in VC-backed startups. Leveraging the staggered implementation of PFL across U.S. states, we find that their introduction is associated with a decline in VC investment, particularly among startups with a higher proportion of female employees. This effect appears to be driven by increased employee departures and reduced innovation, suggesting that PFL-related workforce disruptions may impose organizational burdens, weaken startup performance, and ultimately deter investor interest. Our findings contribute to strategy and entrepreneurship research by demonstrating how institutional shocks can destabilize human capital—a critical yet fragile resource in early-stage firms—and by showing the boundary conditions of human capital advantages under institutional constraints.

Manuscripts Under Development

Correct authoring will be determined later

current

1. The Emergence of P2P Platforms and Entrepreneurial Activities: New Pathways into Entrepreneurship

   Daehyun Kim

   Manuscript in Final Preparation

   Abstract

   Access to markets is an important condition for entrepreneurial activity, yet many potential entrepreneurs face barriers to entry. This paper examines how the emergence of peer-to-peer (P2P) digital platforms changes these conditions by reducing frictions that traditionally constrain entrepreneurial entry. Exploiting the staggered expansion of Craigslist across U.S. metropolitan areas, we employ a difference-in-differences design to assess its impact on new firm formation. We find that Craigslist’s entry increased entrepreneurial activities, particularly among disadvantaged groups such as the unemployed and those with lower levels of education. Importantly, many of these new firms were established on a full-time basis, suggesting that digital platforms opened alternative pathways into entrepreneurship for individuals facing limited opportunities in wage employment. The increased working hours devoted to these businesses further indicates persistence rather than mere experimentation. However, most new firms were unincorporated and small in scale, primarily in business-to-consumer sectors, implying limited potential for reducing structural inequalities such as wage gaps. Taken together, these findings highlight the dual role of P2P platforms: lowering barriers to entry and expanding participation in entrepreneurship, but with only limited effects in mitigating broader economic inequalities.

2. Generative AI and Startup Team Dynamics

   Daehyun Kim, and David Heller

   Data Analysis
3. Director Job Security and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from MV Legislation

   Daehyun Kim

   Data Analysis