Intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs and their early-stage market survival

This article employs the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II (PSED II) in the study of a nationally representative sample of American entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs and their early-stage firm survival during the first six-years of startup. Building on an expansive theoretical framework this article empirically examines and investigates whether it is intrapreneurs or entrepreneurs that have the longest earlystage market survival. Results also reveal the factors (i.e. entrepreneurial capital and demographics) that are associated with venture survival. While numerous fields of research have dedicated their time and energy into exploring the concepts of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, studies have, until now, avoided the examination of early-stage survival of intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial start-up efforts. This is in part due to the fact that there had been no available dataset to explore such a topic (Parker, 2011). The arrival of the PSED II dataset in 2011 changed this. Consequently, this is one of the first papers to be able to present empirical evidence comparing intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial start-up efforts. To realize this, the PSED II dataset was empirically analyzed using simple logistic and multinomial logistic regressions. Results indicate that intrapreneurs in a corporate work environment are more likely to experience early-stage firm survival compared to entrepreneurs. In addition to this, there are several demographic factors and entrepreneurial capital factors that are also associated with venture survival. These apply to both intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs. Results show that age, race and an individuals’ level of extroversion, in terms of being open to business opportunities, increase the likelihood for early-stage intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial firm survival. Based on these findings several strategic implications and recommendations will be provided.