Research

Manuscripts Under Review

current

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

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

   Reject and resubmit, Strategic Management Journal

   Abs

   This paper investigates the relationship between the attribution of the cause of prior entrepreneurial failure and subsequent entrepreneurial processes, with a focus on technology-based startups. Drawing on social psychology literature on attribution theory and research on learning from failure, the study finds that failed entrepreneurs with prior financing experience are more likely to attribute internal factors as the causes of their business failure, reducing their likelihood of re-entering entrepreneurial activities after a failure. Furthermore, the study shows that serial entrepreneurs who attribute their previous failure to internal factors are more likely to change their business model or technology in subsequent startups. Lastly, the research reveals that entrepreneurs who change their business model or technology after a previous startup failure have a higher probability of receiving private investment than startups founded by entrepreneurs who do not make these changes. Overall, the research provides a comprehensive understanding of the behavioral processes of failed entrepreneurs and contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship.

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

   Daehyun Kim, Namil Kim*, and Haemin Dennis Park

   Second revision requested, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

   Abs

   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. How Digital Platforms Unintentionally Foster Entrepreneurial Activities: The Case of the Staggered Entry of Craigslist

   Daehyun Kim, Namil Kim*, and Yongwook Paik

   First revision requested, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

   Abs HTML

   The emergence of prominent digital platforms impacts the way we organize economic activities, including how one starts a new business. In this paper, we examine how a prominent digital platform might affect entrepreneurial activities. We argue that popular digital platforms that serve as a peer-to-peer digital marketplace such as Craigslist can lower barriers to entrepreneurship by reducing resource acquisition costs and customer acquisition costs when starting new businesses, resulting in increased entrepreneurial activities. Exploiting the staggered entry of Craigslist into various U.S. markets with a difference-in-differences econometrics approach, we find causal evidence that the entry of Craigslist increased local entrepreneurial activity, especially in low-income regions and for business-to-consumer businesses. Our study highlights the unintentional spillover effect of a digital platform in empowering potential entrepreneurs.

Manuscripts Under Development

Correct authoring will be determined later

current

1. How Does A New Venture’s Technological Uniqueness Influence Venture Capital Funding Outcomes?”

   Daehyun Kim, Haemin Dennis Park, and Shu Deng
2. Empowering to Scale Global: Evidence from the German Accelerator Program

   David Heller, Daehyun Kim, and Dietmar Harhoff
3. Information Environment and Learning-By-Hiring: Evidence from the American Inventor’s Protection Act

   Shu Deng, Haemin Dennis Park, and Daehyun Kim
4. When Jobs Automate: Entrepreneurship as an Alternative Career Path

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

   Abs

   The paper explores the association between workers in occupations at risk of automation and their inclination towards entrepreneurship, particularly in its unincorporated form, as a reaction to changes in the labor market driven by robotics and AI. Through analysis of data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Automation Probability Index (API), it uncovers a significant link between heightened automation risks and the propensity to start smaller, less innovative entrepreneurial endeavors. The study further sheds light on gender differences in these trends, noting a lesser propensity for female workers to turn to entrepreneurship when faced with the prospect of automation. Moreover, the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in intensifying this movement towards entrepreneurship is recognized, coinciding with a surge in automation technology adoption during this period. This research enhances understanding of the impact of automation on career choices, underlining the need for policy initiatives to assist individuals transitioning from conventional employment to entrepreneurship in an economy increasingly influenced by automation.

Published and Forthcoming Articles

2023

1. Are researchers more likely to succeed when they start a technology-based startup?

   Jeoungbong Han, Daehyun Kim*, Wonjoon Kim, and Cho Sunghyun

   Applied Economics Letters, 2023

   Abs HTML

   This study investigates the relationship between a founder’s occupational background and the survival rate of technology-based startups, focusing on founders with prior research positions. Utilizing a unique tech-based startup database, the study discovers that startups founded by researchers exhibit a lower survival rate compared to those led by founders with other backgrounds. Nevertheless, prior entrepreneurial experience positively moderates the relationship between a founder’s research experience and startup survival rate, indicating that practical business knowledge can offset the inherent lack of business expertise in a researcher’s background. Moreover, the study reveals that startups established by researchers from large companies have an even lower survival rate, as specialization within large organizations may impede the acquisition of essential management skills. These findings emphasize the importance of developing a diverse skill set for startup success.

2018

1. The effect of patent protection on firms’ market value: the case of the renewable energy sector

   Daehyun Kim, Namil Kim, and Wonjoon Kim*

   Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018

   Abs HTML

   In the renewable energy industry, technology development requires a large initial investment by firms and takes a long time. Thus, protecting patents in this industry has become an increasingly important issue in maintaining a company’s value. In this study, we examine how patent protection affects firms’ market value by analyzing the listed companies in South Korea in the renewable energy sector over a 35-year period (from 1980 to 2014). We find that simple patent counts are not a strong measure for explaining a firm’s financial success in this industry, whereas indices that represent a firm’s ability to protect patents (backward citation and patent family) positively and significantly affect the firm’s market value. This study suggests that patent protection is an important factor for companies in improving their economic value in the renewable energy sector.