Knowledge dynamics in employee entrepreneurship: Implications for parents and offspring

This Ph.D. dissertation consists of three empirical essays examining knowledge dynamics associated with employee entrepreneurship - former employees of industry incumbents founding new ventures in the same industry. Employee entrepreneurship is considered an essential mechanism for understanding heterogeneity in new venture capabilities as well as how incumbents’ knowledge diffuses and when their displacement occurs. This dissertation aims to enhance our understanding of employee entrepreneurship by concentrating on the knowledge linking previous employers (i.e., parents) with the new ventures (i.e., offspring). Specifically, it outlines a theory of knowledge dynamics between parents and offspring and carries out an empirical assessment of the attendant impact on both. The first essay examines the extent to which new ventures rely on pre-founding experience and proximity to existing firms in building their knowledge base over time. The second essay investigates the extent to which pre-entry experience and knowledge from parents influence the resource mobilization process of new ventures. The last essay studies how and under what conditions employee entrepreneurship affect parents’ innovation levels.