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Dear entrepreneurship colleagues,

Since the year 2000 over 80 articles have been published based on panel studies of random samples of on-going business start-ups. This includes papers in top disciplinary and mainstream journals such as SMJ, MS, JMS, JOM, Acc Rev, Am Soc Rev as well as more than a dozen JBV articles including its best cited paper of the past decade.

At this year's Academy meeting several sessions take stock of this line of research.  The PDW "Business Creation Panel Studies: The 2010 International Update" (Session 139; Friday at 4 pm) provides provide an update of the design; available data, and overview of results based on start-up panel studies conducted or under way in 9 different countries. In the regular Paper Session "Approaches to Theory Building and Testing" I present our overview – with a particular emphasis on methods issues – of published research based on this type of data (Session 1522; paper presented on Monday at 12:30). In addition, there is the Caucus (NB! Not listed in the ENT part of the program) "Creating and Using Panel Studies of New Venture Creation Processes" the purpose of which is to informally share experiences and discuss issues related to panel studies of on-going start-ups among academics experienced in working with this type of data as well as those planning to create such a study or using data from available data sets of this kind.

For those of you who have an interest in this type of research and in the phenomenon of new venture creation – especially from a process perspective – these sessions provide an excellent introduction/overview/update on central issues pertaining to this type of research. We wish participants heartily welcome to these sessions! Further details are pasted below. Further, several sessions on the program present empirical papers based on this type of data set, e.g., sessions #840 and #1417.

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Program Session #: 138 | Submission: 13735 | Sponsor(s): (ENT, RM, OMT)

Scheduled: Friday, Aug 6 2010 4:00PM - 7:00PM at Le Palais Des Congres in 511F

Business Creation Panel Studies: The 2010 International Update

Chair: Paul D Reynolds; George Washington U.;

Understanding the origins of new businesses, the firm creation process, has been dramatically affected by the implementation of longitudinal studies of the start-up process (Davidsson, 2006). National projects in nine countries share the same research protocol and a conscious effort has been made to harmonize many details of these projects. The teams in all countries continue to make progress either in collecting additional follow-up data-as in Australia, China, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Sweden and the second U.S. project [PSED II]-or completing additional analysis and assessments of the existing data sets-as in Canada, Norway, and the original Netherlands, Sweden and U.S. projects [PSED I]. The Kauffman Firm Survey [KFS], designed to provide tracking of post firm birth ventures is harmonized with U.S. PSED II. This workshop will provide an update of the developments over the past year among these complementary projects, providing a guide to those teams in additional countries that may wish to implement their own panel studies. Following commentaries on the contributions of these projects to understanding business creation and unexplored opportunities, there will be an opportunity for an open discussion of future directions for this research paradigm.

Workshop Outline: Introduction (10 min) Country Summaries (10 minutes) Discussants (10 minutes) Open Discussion (20 minutes)

Search Terms:   Business Creation , Panel Studies , International

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Paper Session

Program Session #: 1522 | Submission: 17853 | Sponsor(s): (ENT)

Scheduled: Tuesday, Aug 10 2010 11:30AM - 1:00PM at Le Palais Des Congres in 511A

Approaches to Theory Building and Testing

Chair: Judy Matthews; Queensland U. of Technology;

Search Terms:   Simulation , Construct Validation , Panel Studies

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3rd paper circa 12:30

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  ENT: Panel Studies of New Venture Creation: A Review and Suggestions for Future Research    

Author: Per Davidsson; Queensland U. of Technology;

Author: Scott Robert Gordon; Queensland U. of Technology;

We review all journal articles based on "PSED-type" research, i.e., longitudinal, empirical studies of large samples of on-going, business start-up efforts. We conclude that the research stream has yielded interesting findings, sometimes by confirming prior with a less bias-prone methodology and at other times by challenging that prior conclusions are valid for the early stages of venture development. Most importantly, the research has addressed new, process-related research questions that prior research has shunned or been unable to study in a rigorous manner. The research has revealed enormous and fascinating variability of new venture creation that also makes it challenging to arrive at broadly valid generalizations. An analysis of the findings across studies as well as an examination of those studies that have been relatively more successful at explaining outcomes give good guidance regarding what is required in order to achieve strong and credible results. We compile and present such advice to users of existing data sets and designers of new projects in the following areas: Statistically representative and/or theoretically relevant sampling; Level of analysis issues; Dealing with process heterogeneity and other heterogeneity issues, and Choice and interpretation of dependent variables.

Search Terms:   nascent entrepreneur , panel studies , new venture

Paper is NOT Available: Please contact the author(s). Similar version at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/19622/

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                                Program Session #: 1709 | Submission: 17786 | Sponsor(s): (CAU)

Scheduled: Tuesday, Aug 10 2010 3:00PM - 4:30PM at Le Palais Des Congres in 521C

Creating and Using Panel Studies of New Venture Creation Processes

Organizer: Per Davidsson; Queensland U. of Technology;

The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) pioneered a feasible way of identifying large, representative samples of on-going business start-up efforts at an early stage and following their development over time. The basic design of this type of research can be summarized as follows (Reynolds, 2009): a probability sample of 'nascent entrepreneurs' (NE) is obtained through phone interviews with a very large number of adult members of households, selected through random digit dialing. Answers to a screening questionnaire determine whether respondents are involved in on-going but not yet operational business start-ups in which they are going to be (part) owners. Qualified NEs are directed to a comprehensive (30-60 minutes) interview. Eligible cases are later re-interviewed every 6-12 months over some 2 to 5 years in order to follow the process and assess outcomes. The early stage random sampling serves to ascertain representativeness. In particular it reduces the survivor bias that occurs when only cases that led to up and running businesses are included. The longitudinal design permits studying process issues. Further, the real time following of the development of the start-up process reduces issues of memory decay and hindsight bias. Now with 10 national studies at different stages of development (Reynolds & Curtin, forthcoming) and 78 articles published in peer reviewed journal s (Davidsson & Gordon, 2009) the research approach developed for PSED has enjoyed considerable success, dramatically affecting the understanding of the origins of new businesses and the firm creation process. However, collecting and using data of this kind also involves many challenges. As with any large scale, longitudinal study, funding and managing a project of this magnitude is in itself a major challenge. Once data have been successfully collected, analyzing and interpreting the data also entails considerable challenges related to the emerging nature of the studied phenomenon; the multi-dimensional heterogeneity of the sample (including temporal heterogeneity in initial stage of development; start-up process speed, and total start-up process duration); attrition; levels of analysis, and the problem of assessing and comparing the status and outcomes of a diverse sample of emerging ventures at an early stage. The purpose of this Caucus is to share experiences and discuss issues related to PSED-type panel studies in a group of academics experienced in working with this type of data as well as those planning to create such a study or using data from available data sets of this kind. References: Davidsson, P., & Gordon, S. R. (2009). Nascent Entrepreneur(ship) Research: A Review. Manuscript available at eprints.qut.edu.au/19622/. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology. Gartner, W. B., K. G. Shaver, et al. (2004). Handbook of Entrepreneurial Dynamics: The Process of Business Creation. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage. Reynolds, P. 2009. Screening item effects in estimating the prevalence of nascent entrepreneurs. Small Business Economics, 33I(2), 151-163. Reynolds, P.D., Curtin, R. (forthcoming). New Venture Creation: An International Overview. New York: Springer.

For all who currently work with such data or plan to do so in the future

Search Terms:   panel studies , new venture creation , start-up