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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Organ. Psychol.
Sec. Performance and Development
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/forgp.2024.1435134

Impact of entrepreneurs' prior experience on their new ventures' early-stage performance: The mediation effect of entrepreneurial mindset level

Provisionally accepted
Sihui Chen Sihui Chen 1Lichen Zhong Lichen Zhong 2Xiao Wang Xiao Wang 3*Bolong Chen Bolong Chen 1
  • 1 Xipu Technological Entrepreneurship Development (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., Suzhou, China
  • 2 Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
  • 3 International Business School, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Liaoning Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Does an entrepreneur's prior experience affect the early-stage performance of new ventures? Regarding the debates of prior studies, this study further explores the mediating effect of the entrepreneurial mindset level, indicated by the quality of business plans, between entrepreneurs' prior experience and the early-stage performance of their new ventures. The sample comprises 157 valid formal business plan documents from the "2021 Gusu Science and Technology Angel Program." The results reveal the mechanism through which entrepreneurs' prior experience affects their early-stage performance. Furthermore, the study suggests an approach to indicate the entrepreneurial mindset level by measuring the quality of a business plan. This study suggests that entrepreneurs who aim to generate high levels of new venture performance in the long-term devote themselves to learning and acquiring multiple experiences. In addition, using the opportunity to write and evaluate their business plans can serve as a means of self-testing their entrepreneurial mindset by using the evaluation system developed in this study. This can significantly improve their performance and affect their entrepreneurial success. In addition, by employing the evaluation system developed in this study, educators and education agencies can better understand trainees' (entrepreneurs') entrepreneurial mindset levels and thus customize their courses more effectively.

    Keywords: entrepreneurs' prior experience, entrepreneurial mindset level, New venture, earlystage performance, Business plan

    Received: 20 May 2024; Accepted: 25 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Zhong, Wang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiao Wang, International Business School, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, Liaoning Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.