Imprinting through Inheritance: A Multi-Genealogical Study of Entrepreneurial Proclivity
研究了不同时代环境条件对创业倾向的印记效应如何通过代际传递而延续，发现时代印记仅影响第一代企业，后续世代受前一代创业倾向影响，且知识传递中的认知不匹配会调节这种代际影响。
We offer an organizational lineage inheritance theoretical framework for understanding the longevity of imprinting effects of two consecutive eras with distinct environmental conditions, values, and norms. Adopting a genealogical approach, we find that era-based imprinting is contingent on lineage-based transmissions. Era-based initial conditions strongly influence the entrepreneurial proclivity of the first generation of firms but have no influence on subsequent generations, and each generation is influenced by the entrepreneurial proclivity of the former. We show two mediation effects and one moderation effect, supporting our theoretical argument that the longevity of imprinting effects is due to heredity processes. First, the effect of era-based initial conditions on the entrepreneurial proclivity of the second generation is mediated by the entrepreneurial proclivity of the first generation. The effect of the entrepreneurial proclivity of the first generation on the third-generation’s entrepreneurial proclivity is mediated by the entrepreneurial proclivity of the second generation. Second, a mismatch between the mental models of the knowledge-transmitting agents (the founders) and the knowledge-receiving agents (organization members—prospective entrepreneurs) moderates the effect of the entrepreneurial proclivity of one generation on the entrepreneurial proclivity of the next.