Human capital and entrepreneurial success: a meta-analytical review
Unger, Jens M.; Rauch, Andreas; Frese, Michael; et al.Rosenbusch, Nina
Date: 31 October 2009
Article
Journal
Journal of Business Venturing
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The study meta-analytically integrates results from three decades of human capital research in
entrepreneurship. Based on 70 independent samples (N = 24,733), we found a significant but
small relationship between human capital and success (rc = .098). We examined theoretically
derived moderators of this relationship referring to ...
The study meta-analytically integrates results from three decades of human capital research in
entrepreneurship. Based on 70 independent samples (N = 24,733), we found a significant but
small relationship between human capital and success (rc = .098). We examined theoretically
derived moderators of this relationship referring to conceptualizations of human capital, to
context, and to measurement of success. The relationship was higher for outcomes of human
capital investments (knowledge/skills) than for human capital investments
(education/experience), for human capital with high task-relatedness compared to low taskrelatedness,
for young businesses compared to old businesses, and for the dependent variables
size compared to growth or profitability. Findings are relevant for practitioners (lenders,
policy makers, educators) and for future research. Our findings show that future research
should pursue moderator approaches to study the effects of human capital on success.
Further, human capital is most important if it is task-related and if it consists of outcomes of
human capital investments rather than human capital investments; this suggests that research
should overcome a static view of human capital and should rather investigate the processes of
learning, knowledge acquisition, and the transfer of knowledge to entrepreneurial tasks.
Management
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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