Method Issues in the Study of Venture Start-Up Processes

The research on entrepreneurship has begun tofocus more on the emergence of new ventures and the behaviors leading to thisemergence, as opposed to the characteristics of the entrepreneurs. Thus, thisresearch focuses on the process of firm emergence and the antecedents and/oreffects of venture emergence, and the strategies for research in this area. The venture idea is suggested as the unit of analysis. The start-up processcan be studied through the use of several techniques, with the less reliablecollection techniques (e.g., agency informants, firm registries, snowballing)identified. Recognizing these limitations, suchdata collection programsasthe PSED utilize a two step approach to data collection; the advantagesand limitations of these programs are highlighted. Other sampling issues, suchas bias, ongoing sampling, heterogeneity, and representativeness, areexplored. The challenges regarding participant response rates and attrition, and dataanalysis, are also discussed. Ways of overcoming several of these limitingfactors are identified, including the collection of longitudinal data and theutilization of latent growth modeling (LGM) for data analysis. It issuggestedthat a vast amount of future research would be beneficial forthis field of study. (AKP)