Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis for a finer-grained understanding of entrepreneurship

doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2019.105970

Journal of Business Venturing

Volume 35, Issue 1, January 2020, 105970

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2019.105970 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
FsQCA allows incorporation of asymmetric data, outliers, asymmetric relationships, interdependent conjunctural causation, and equifinality.
•
FsQCA reveals patterns within the data that are left hidden by traditional methods, and it accommodates data that traditional methods cannot.
•
The fsQCA method is outlined in the entrepreneurship context to highlight the contribution this analytical tool can make to developing entrepreneurship theory.
•
Replication of a prior symmetric study using the fsQCA method demonstrates the finer-grained information that this analytical tool can reveal.
•
A detailed future research agenda for the application of fsQCA method to a wide range of micro and macro entrepreneurial topics.

Abstract

Entrepreneurship theory has largely been developed and tested using symmetrical correlational methods, effectively describing the sample-average respondent and subsuming individual differences. Such methods necessarily limit investigation of asymmetries that are evident in entrepreneurship, and provide only a single explanation that belies the multiple pathways to entrepreneurship observed in practice. This paper employs a case-based approach—fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA)—to identify configurations of antecedent attributes of individuals in groups within samples, thereby revealing asymmetries and multiple entrepreneurial pathways that are otherwise hidden in the data. We explain the application of fsQCA to reveal these common issues in entrepreneurship; demonstrate how fsQCA complements correlational methods and offers finer-grained understanding of individual entrepreneurial behavior; and offer a comprehensive research agenda to build new entrepreneurship theory.

Section snippets

Executive summary

The great majority of entrepreneurship theory has been conceptualized to be tested using symmetric quantitative methods, such as multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling. These traditional symmetric methods test relationships between proposed independent and dependent variables to explain entrepreneurial phenomena. Symmetric methods require the data to conform to restrictive assumptions, including normally distributed data, symmetric data relationships, and independence of

Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

It is not our purpose here to provide a fully-comprehensive “how-to” guide for fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) since such guides already exist in the management (e.g. Greckhamer et al., 2018) and entrepreneurship literatures (e.g. Leppänen et al., 2019). Rather, our purpose is to outline the method for the scholar who is relatively new to fsQCA and who may be considering the use of this method in the entrepreneurship context.

FsQCA is well-suited to the dealing with the

Re-examining the data of a prior entrepreneurship study

To illustrate the potential contribution that fsQCA can make to research into entrepreneurial phenomena, we now use this tool to re-analyze data from an earlier study that had utilized traditional symmetric analytical methods. We chose a “micro-entrepreneurship” investigation of the determinants of entrepreneurial intention by Douglas (2013), who used multiple regression analysis, consistent with what is commonly used in the “intentions” literature (see surveys by Liñán and Fayolle, 2015;

Future research opportunities

There appear to be many interesting research questions for which scholars can use fsQCA to investigate patterns between and among the antecedent conditions that associate with a focal outcome of interest in the entrepreneurial domain.¹⁵

Conclusion, limitations, and implications

We have argued that while research using traditional symmetric methods has contributed much to revealing the determinants of entrepreneurial phenomena, such methods may leave information largely undiscovered about individuals and sub-groups within the population. To make further progress in explaining and predicting entrepreneurial phenomena, researchers can use fsQCA to complement knowledge derived from traditional analytical methods. In this regard, the current paper makes three main

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank JBV editor Brian Anderson, and three anonymous reviewers, for their insightful and constructive comments and guidance on earlier versions of this paper. We would also like to thank Joanna Campbell for her incredible feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

References (108)

I. Ajzen
The theory of planned behavior
Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.
(1991)
M.J. Beynon et al.
Country-based comparison analysis using fsQCA investigating entrepreneurial attitudes and activity
J. Bus. Res.
(2016)
Y.R. Choi et al.
When should entrepreneurs expedite or delay opportunity exploitation?
J. Bus. Ventur.
(2008)
Y.R. Choi et al.
Entrepreneurs’ decisions to exploit opportunities
J. Manage.
(2004)
A. Coad et al.
Growth paths and survival chances: an application of Gambler’s Ruin theory
J. Bus. Ventur.
(2013)
P. Davidsson et al.
Growing profitable or growing from profits: Putting the horse in front of the cart?
J. Bus. Ventur.
(2009)
F. Delmar et al.
Legitimating first: organizing activities and the survival of new ventures
J. Bus. Ventur.
(2004)
D.R. DeTienne et al.
Making sense of entrepreneurial exit strategies: a typology and test
J. Bus. Ventur.
(2015)
C. Devece et al.
Entrepreneurship during economic crisis: success factors and paths to failure
J. Bus. Res.
(2016)
E.J. Douglas
Reconstructing entrepreneurial intentions to identify predisposition for growth
J. Bus. Ventur.
(2013)

R.T. Frambach et al.

How important is customer orientation for firm performance? A fuzzy set analysis of orientations, strategies, and environments

J. Bus. Res.

(2016)

N.F. Krueger et al.

Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2000)

L. Lee et al.

Entrepreneurial intentions: the influence of organizational and individual factors

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2011)

B.B. Lichtenstein et al.

Complexity dynamics of nascent entrepreneurship

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2007)

P. Muñoz et al.

The call of the whole in understanding the development of sustainable ventures

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2015)

P. Muñoz et al.

Institutional complexity and social entrepreneurship: a fuzzy-set approach

J. Bus. Res.

(2016)

S.C. Parker

Intrapreneurship or entrepreneurship?

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2011)

D.A. Shepherd

Party on! A call for entrepreneurship research that is more interactive, activity based, cognitively hot, compassionate, and prosocial

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2015)

D.A. Shepherd et al.

Moving forward: balancing the financial and emotional costs of business failure

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2009)

S. Tanner

QCA is of questionable value for policy research

Policy Soc.

(2014)

H. Ahl

Why research on women entrepreneurs needs new directions

Entrep. Theory Pract.

(2006)

I. Ajzen et al.

Attitude-behavior relations: a theoretical analysis and review of empirical research

Psychol. Bull.

(1977)

B. Antoncic

Risk taking in intrapreneurship: translating the individual level risk aversion into the organizational risk taking

J. Enterprising Cult.

(2002)

A. Bandura

Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change

Psychol. Rev.

(1977)

R.A. Baron et al.

Opportunity recognition as the detection of meaningful patterns: evidence from comparisons of novice and experienced entrepreneurs

Manage. Sci.

(2006)

J. Battilana et al.

Advancing research on hybrid organizing – insights from the study of social enterprise

Acad. Manag. Ann.

(2014)

B. Bird

Implementing entrepreneurial ideas: the case for intention

Acad. Manag. Rev.

(1988)

N.G. Boyd et al.

The influence of self-efficacy on the development of entrepreneurial intentions and actions

Entrep. Theory Pract.

(1994)

J. Brinkmann et al.

Should entrepreneurs plan or just storm the castle? A meta-analysis on contextual factors impacting the business planning–performance relationship in small firms

J. Bus. Ventur.

(2010)

J. Brüderl et al.

Network support and the success of newly founded business

Small Bus. Econ.

(1998)

M. Buelens et al.

Enriching the Spence and Robbins’ typology of workaholism: demographic, motivational and organizational correlates

J. Organ. Chang. Manag.

(2004)

S. Carter

The rewards of entrepreneurship: exploring the incomes, wealth, and economic well–being of entrepreneurial households

Entrep. Theory Pract.

(2011)

T.M. Cooney

What is an Entrepreneurial Team?

Int. Small Bus. J.

(2005)

J.P. Cornelissen et al.

Imagining and rationalizing opportunities: inductive reasoning and the creation and justification of new ventures

Acad. Manag. Rev.

(2010)

E. Deci et al.

Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination In Human Behavior

(1985)

A.F. De Noble et al.

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy: the development of a measure and its relationship to entrepreneurial intentions and actions

Entrep. Theory Pract.

(1999)

D.H. Doty et al.

Typologies as a unique form of theory building: toward improved understanding and modeling

Acad. Manag. Rev.

(1994)

E.J. Douglas et al.

Intrapreneurial intentions versus entrepreneurial intentions: distinct constructs with different antecedents

Small Bus. Econ.

(2013)

J. Duberley et al.

The career identities of ‘mumpreneurs’: women’s experiences of combining enterprise and motherhood

Int. Small Bus. J.

(2013)

J.E. Dutton et al.

Explaining compassion organizing

Adm. Sci. Q.

(2006)

P.C. Fiss

Building better causal theories: a fuzzy set approach to typologies in organization research

Acad. Manag. J.

(2011)

B.L. Fredrickson

What good are positive emotions?

Rev. Gen. Psychol.

(1998)

A.S. Gabriel et al.

Fuzzy Profiles: comparing and contrasting latent profile analysis and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis for person-centered research

Organ. Res. Methods

(2018)

W.B. Gartner

A conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation

Acad. Manag. Rev.

(1985)

A. Gelman et al.

Data-dependent analysis – a garden of forking paths – explains why many statistically significant comparisons don’t hold up

Am. Sci.

(2014)

J. Gimeno et al.

Survival of the fittest? Entrepreneurial human capital and the persistence of underperforming firms

Adm. Sci. Q.

(1997)

T. Greckhamer

CEO compensation in relation to worker compensation across countries: the configurational impact of country-level institutions

Strateg. Manage. J.

(2016)

T. Greckhamer et al.

Studying configurations with qualitative comparative analysis: best practices in strategy and organization research

Strateg. Organ.

(2018)

D.A. Grégoire et al.

The cognitive perspective in entrepreneurship: an agenda for future research

J. Manag. Stud.

(2011)

M.T. Hannan

Partiality of memberships in categories and audiences

Annu. Rev. Sociol.

(2010)

Cited by (247)

Outlier entrepreneurs: Nonlinear paths and novel ventures
2024, Journal of Business Venturing Insights
Outliers in entrepreneurship are founders who are markedly different—both quantitatively and qualitatively—relative to the “normal” population. We use a power law perspective to hypothesize that, in order for new ventures to persist, founders with outlier endowments are more likely to have novel expectations about the opportunities they pursue and greater variation in the execution methods they employ, while normal founders are more likely to have much lower expectations and engage in a manner that is confined to fit within the smaller scope of explicit market demand. We leverage data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II, a longitudinal representative sample of 1214 nascent entrepreneurs organizing resources in preparation for startup, and employ fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to investigate our hypothesized relationships. In support, the results suggest that founders need to stay in their lane for their ventures to persist: whereas outlier founders have the option to successfully pursue more ambitious opportunities—those that are innovative, growth-oriented, and international focused—normal founders are primarily resigned to niche opportunities. Even more interesting, ventures are much less likely to persist when there is a misalignment between endowments, expectations, and engagement (i.e., when outlier founders pursue niche opportunities and normal founders pursue aspirational opportunities). This study makes meaningful contributions to the power law perspective, to the growing interest in outliers and exceptionality in entrepreneurship, and to the domain’s aggregated knowledge of new venture persistence.
A configurational approach to political risks and institutional logics
2024, Journal of International Management
Advancing our understanding of political risks is crucial for international management (IM) research and practice. This study addresses how multiple institutional logics that govern multinational enterprises (MNEs), as latent tensions of political risks, may work together for superior or inferior performance. Methodologically, we adopt a configurational approach to predict how varying state logic and market logic combinations affect performance in the context of internationalization among Chinese financial services firms. Employing fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), we identify a specific taxonomy of four political risk prototypes that lead to different performance outcomes. Overall, this study provides novel insights into political risk variations of internationalizing firms and links different institutional logic configurations with performance outcomes.
Demystifying pathways of composition-based international strategies under the de-globalization world: A configurational approach
2024, Journal of International Management
The composition-based view explains how emerging market firms creatively adopt compositional investment, compositional offerings, and compositional capabilities to gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. How the composition-based international strategy contributes to organizational resilience under the de-globalization world remains unclear. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we explore how emerging market firms reconfigure compositional elements and the crucial role of firm heterogeneity in determining organizational resilience. Our analysis of 250 Chinese manufacturing firms revealed five distinct international compositional strategies and asymmetric outcomes. Multiple configurations of composition-based international strategies and firm heterogeneity were found to be related to high and low organizational resilience. Our findings confirm that emerging market firms must reconfigure their compositional elements to achieve sustained and resilient performance throughout the pandemic. Our findings extend the composition-based view by elucidating the multiple pathways and boundary conditions of compositional strategies leading to organizational resilience.
Multi-driving paths for the coupling coordinated development of agricultural carbon emission reduction and sequestration and food security: A configurational analysis based on dynamic fsQCA
2024, Ecological Indicators
Exploring the coupling coordinated development of carbon emission reduction and sequestration (CERS) and food security in agriculture is conducive to mitigating climate change and achieving sustainable development goals. However, there is little research on the coupling coordinated development of these two systems. Based on panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2001 to 2021, this study used the dynamic fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to analyze the levels and driving paths of coupling coordinated development between agricultural CERS and food security. The results revealed that (1) the coupling coordination degree increased from 0.443 in 2001 to 0.489 in 2021, showing an upward trend. (2) We identified three driving paths of coupling coordination development: technology-driven, finance-driven and urban-development-driven. (3) The grain sown area and unit yield are core variables, serving as fundamental pillars, and their combination with technology or financial expenditure enhances this coordinated development. Notably, the grain sown area and unit yield exhibit a complementary relationship, while agricultural technology and financial expenditure demonstrate a substitution relationship. (4) Temporal analysis showed a consistent trend in the technology-driven and finance-driven paths. Regional analysis revealed marked heterogeneity: the technology-finance synergy path predominates in the remote west, the technology-driven path lies in the mountainous southwest, the finance-driven path clusters in the north, and the urban-development-driven path is located in economically advanced regions. Policymakers should formulate policies according to these different driving paths to promote coupling coordinated development.
To formalize, or not to formalize, business incubators’ networks: That is not the question
2024, Technovation
With more than seven decades of supporting entrepreneurs, today's business incubators are distinguished by their external networks. These networks of collaborators provide key resources, knowledge, and skills. Studies call on incubator managers to formalize the management of their networks, a practice that can generate a competitive advantage. However, research to date has been relatively silent on how to manage these external resources. To address this, the management practices of a top-performing business incubator in Canada were observed. Close to 50 individual interviews were conducted over a four-year period and theoretical concepts from the business incubation, network and social capital literature inspired the observed practices. The results show that network management is a shared responsibility between entrepreneurs, external stakeholders, and managers and formalizing external ties cannot be an all-purpose practice. As such, a theoretical framework is proposed to shed light on the dynamic nature of managing social capital. A management that is both relational and structuring brings out the trust and autonomy of people in situations of dynamic and, sometimes, constraining interactions. Highlighting these practices contributes to a more refined conceptualization of incubator management and, on a practical level, raises the importance of the human and relational dimensions in managing these changing environments.
The context deficit in leadership research
2024, Leadership Quarterly
Complementary evidence from narrative literature reviews and meta-analyses leads to the conclusion that much research suffers from a lack of attention to the context in which leadership occurs. Several possible reasons for this context deficit are refuted, including notions that context is unimportant for leaders, contextualized research is less scientific than decontextualized research, and useful contextual descriptors are lacking. Rather, it is argued that the context deficit is a negative manifestation of the romance of leadership. Advantages of enhanced attention to context include reduction of omitted variable bias, improved understanding of anomalous research results, differentiation and integration of research findings, and enhanced teaching and practice of leadership. Improved contextual appreciation can be facilitated by consulting contextual success stories, embracing an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on events, behavior, and change, employing experience sampling, conducting more qualitative research, using a configural approach, studying how leaders construe and process contextual cues, adopting context-specific leadership measures, and improving writing, editing, and review practices concerning context.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis for a finer-grained understanding of entrepreneurship

Highlights

Abstract

Section snippets

Executive summary

Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

Re-examining the data of a prior entrepreneurship study

Future research opportunities

Conclusion, limitations, and implications

Acknowledgements

Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.

J. Bus. Res.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Manage.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Res.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Res.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Res.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

J. Bus. Ventur.

Policy Soc.

Why research on women entrepreneurs needs new directions

Entrep. Theory Pract.

Attitude-behavior relations: a theoretical analysis and review of empirical research

Psychol. Bull.

Risk taking in intrapreneurship: translating the individual level risk aversion into the organizational risk taking

J. Enterprising Cult.

Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change

Psychol. Rev.

Opportunity recognition as the detection of meaningful patterns: evidence from comparisons of novice and experienced entrepreneurs

Manage. Sci.

Advancing research on hybrid organizing – insights from the study of social enterprise

Acad. Manag. Ann.

Implementing entrepreneurial ideas: the case for intention

Acad. Manag. Rev.

The influence of self-efficacy on the development of entrepreneurial intentions and actions

Entrep. Theory Pract.

Should entrepreneurs plan or just storm the castle? A meta-analysis on contextual factors impacting the business planning–performance relationship in small firms

J. Bus. Ventur.

Network support and the success of newly founded business

Small Bus. Econ.

Enriching the Spence and Robbins’ typology of workaholism: demographic, motivational and organizational correlates

J. Organ. Chang. Manag.

The rewards of entrepreneurship: exploring the incomes, wealth, and economic well–being of entrepreneurial households

Entrep. Theory Pract.

What is an Entrepreneurial Team?

Int. Small Bus. J.

Imagining and rationalizing opportunities: inductive reasoning and the creation and justification of new ventures

Acad. Manag. Rev.

Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination In Human Behavior

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy: the development of a measure and its relationship to entrepreneurial intentions and actions

Entrep. Theory Pract.

Typologies as a unique form of theory building: toward improved understanding and modeling

Acad. Manag. Rev.

Intrapreneurial intentions versus entrepreneurial intentions: distinct constructs with different antecedents

Small Bus. Econ.

The career identities of ‘mumpreneurs’: women’s experiences of combining enterprise and motherhood

Int. Small Bus. J.

Explaining compassion organizing

Adm. Sci. Q.

Building better causal theories: a fuzzy set approach to typologies in organization research

Acad. Manag. J.

What good are positive emotions?

Rev. Gen. Psychol.

Fuzzy Profiles: comparing and contrasting latent profile analysis and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis for person-centered research

Organ. Res. Methods

A conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation

Acad. Manag. Rev.

Data-dependent analysis – a garden of forking paths – explains why many statistically significant comparisons don’t hold up

Am. Sci.

Survival of the fittest? Entrepreneurial human capital and the persistence of underperforming firms