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Birds of a feather get lost together: new venture team composition and performance

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Abstract

This study explores the relationship between new venture team composition and new venture persistence and performance over time. We examine the team characteristics of a 5-year panel study of 202 new venture teams and new venture performance. Our study makes two contributions. First, we extend earlier research concerning homophily theories of the prevalence of homogeneous teams. Using structural event analysis we demonstrate that team members’ start-up experience is important in this context. Second, we attempt to reconcile conflicting evidence concerning the influence of team homogeneity on performance by considering the element of time. We hypothesize that higher team homogeneity is positively related to short term outcomes, but is less effective in the longer term. Our results confirm a difference over time. We find that more homogeneous teams are less likely to be higher performing in the long term. However, we find no relationship between team homogeneity and short-term performance outcomes.

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Notes

  1. By sex, we refer to biological sex.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia

    Paul Steffens & Per Davidsson

  2. Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Siri Terjesen

  3. Jonkoping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden

    Per Davidsson

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  1. Paul Steffens
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  2. Siri Terjesen
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  3. Per Davidsson
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Correspondence to Paul Steffens.

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Steffens, P., Terjesen, S. & Davidsson, P. Birds of a feather get lost together: new venture team composition and performance. Small Bus Econ 39, 727–743 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-011-9358-z

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