Careers, Organizations and Entrepreneurship

Guest Editors:

M. Diane Burton (Cornell University)

Jesper B. Sorensen (Stanford University)

Stanislav D. Dobrev (University of Utah)

Deadline:  October 1, 2014

Introduction

Movements between entrepreneurship and paid employment – including both transitions to entrepreneurship and re-entry into paid employment – are remarkably common, yet have only recently begun to attract scholarly attention.  Ferber and Waldfogel (1998) estimate that fully a quarter of young men and a fifth of young women in the United States have experienced a spell of entrepreneurial activity by their mid-thirties.  Far more have contemplated launching a new venture (Reynolds and Curtin 2008).  Most of these entrepreneurs launch their new ventures after having worked for established firms (Sorensen and Fassiotto 2011).  And while between 15 and 30% of entrepreneurs are serial founders who follow one venture with another (Hyytinen and Ilmakunnas 2007), the majority of entrepreneurs, by definition, have a different kind of career transition.  It seems likely that if and when entrepreneurial ventures fail, many entrepreneurs will transition back into paid employment.   These patterns of movement suggest that entrepreneurial activity is usefully studied using a perspective that explicitly conceptualizes the relationship between entrepreneurial dynamics and career processes and outcomes. 

Read more...