Falling to Rise: Downward Mobility and Entrepreneurship
Scientific seminars
Julio O. De Castro Campbell, Professeur, IE Business School, Madrid (Espagne)
Séminaire organisé par le Département d'entrepreneuriat et innovation
Ouvert à tous.
En mode hybride :
- Salle : Port-au-Prince, 1er étage, section verte, édifice Côte-Sainte-Catherine
- En ligne sur Zoom
Information sur la conférence :
Does the experience of downward mobility impact an individual’s likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur? While entrepreneurship researchers have acknowledged the long-lasting effects of social class origins on entrepreneurial outcomes, much remains unknown about how social class transitions influence entrepreneurial entry. Specifically, how does moving down the social ladder affect an individual’s decision to pursue self-employment as a career choice? In this study, we conceptualize downward mobility as status discordance, defined as the discrepancy between status expectation formed by one’s childhood social class and the outcomes realized in adulthood. We argue that such status discordance may positively influence entrepreneurship by motivating individuals to pursue entrepreneurship as a means to restore or regain their status. Moreover, we explore variation in this relationship by gender and residence. We use nationally representative Chinese data from 2010 to 2018 to test our hypotheses. The results support our hypotheses. Our study has both theoretical and practical implications.