Kevin C. Cox

Fundamental Entrepreneurial Planning Processes: Resource Assessment and Opportunity Evaluation:

Research focused on new venture planning has received much attention in the entrepreneurship literature. However, while this stream of research has enjoyed substantial development, it also faces numerous challenges that must be addressed to ensure future progress. This paper identifies existing challenges in research focused on entrepreneurial planning and offers resolution via the development of a more parsimonious but fuller conceptualization of new venture planning. Focus is placed specifically on the most basic and fundamental planning processes and on the identification of important internal and external factors that influence how entrepreneurs progress through these fundamental planning processes.

Gender, social salience, and social performance: how women pursue and perform in social ventures

Abstract We investigate how women that start organizations contribute to the creation of social value in communities and society. We draw on theory from gender self-schemas and social identity theory to explain how women with a female gender-self schema have a natural inclination to create organizations with social goals and intentions in mind. We label these social goals and intentions as social salience and draw on goal theory and existing understandings on intentions to explain how the presence of a social salience in an organization is related to the social performance of their organization. Utilizing structural equation modeling, we show that gender positively influences social salience that subsequently has a positive relationship with the social performance of the organization. We also show that social salience fully mediates the relationship between gender and social performance implying that gender alone is not enough to explain the social performance of an organization. We conclude by highlighting the implications, contributions, and future research that result from our findings.

Different strokes for different folks: Generational differences, social salience, and social performance

Empirical evidence establishes that entrepreneurs pursue and achieve different goals and objectives with their ventures ranging from purely economic to purely social (e.g. non-profits) in nature. The reason that individual entrepreneurs choose to pursue such divergent paths is currently poorly understood, however. We employ a perspective integrating generational theory, goal-setting theory and the theory of planned behaviour to determine why entrepreneurs of different ages pursue social performance in their ventures. Using a sample of 150 entrepreneurs belonging to Baby Boomer, Generation X and Millennial generations, we examined the relationship between age, social salience and the social performance of their firms. Findings suggest a mediated relationship between age, social salience and social performance.

The investment paradox: why attractive new ventures exhibit relatively poor investment potential

Abstract This paper provides insights into the way in which angel investors evaluate the investment potential of new ventures. Previous research has identified a broad array of different investment criteria that are thought to directly influence whether an investment opportunity is perceived as attractive by angel investors. This study contributes to this stream of research by identifying what is referred to as the investment paradox which occurs when the basic and fundamental investment criteria associated with a new venture are positively evaluated, yet the venture is simultaneously evaluated as exhibiting relatively poor investment potential. A model in which the relationship between fundamental investment criteria and overall investment potential is moderated by fit-based technology development criteria is proposed as an explanation for this apparent paradox. This model is tested with a large sample of investment proposals evaluated by angel investors using multi-level modeling. The results support the proposed moderated model of angel investor evaluation criteria. These results have clear and important implications for entrepreneurs, angel investors, public policy, and future research focused on angel investors’ evaluations of investment opportunities.

Entrepreneurial Orientation, Management Capability, and Funding Potential of Early Stage Ventures

Entrepreneurial orientation has been widely argued and generally supported as positively related to performance. However, although these performance implications are generally recognized, entrepren...