The impact of financial, human and social capital on becoming an entrepreneur through acquisition

Abstract

While studies on successful entrepreneurship are abundant, this stream of research focused predominantly on start-up entrepreneurship. Acquiring an existing firm, or entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA), is an alternative form of entrepreneurial entry. Using a unique sample of nascent ETA entrepreneurs, in particular middle-aged senior experienced individuals, collected through online surveys, we test the importance of three forms of capital on the odds of successfully acquiring a business: financial, human, and social capital. Human capital or the experience and expertise of the ETA entrepreneur significantly increases the chances of success. However, contrary to our knowledge of start-up entrepreneurs, financial capital is another vital predictor, while social capital seems to have no significant impact. Our findings suggest that start-up and ETA entrepreneurship require different resources to be successfully completed due to their inherent differences