Becoming Founder Role-Identity Affects Entrepreneurial Transitions And Persistence In Founding

This paper develops the concept of founder role identity and delineates how two aspects, centrality and complexity, affect potential founders' ability to exit a current work role in order to undertake founding activities, an indicator of successful role transition. The paper delineate how distinctive configurations of founder role identities influence the extend and type of persistence observed in the face of negative feedback so prevalent during the founding process. The paper links founder role identity to longer-term outcomes, including the overlooked condition of dormancy wherein a role transition has occurred but successful founding has not. The theorizing seeks to redress an imbalance in theories explaining entrepreneurial activity by developing a more dynamic understanding of the founder's role in determining organizational founding.