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Entrepreneurial career success from a Chinese perspective: conceptualization, operationalization, and validation

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Abstract

We conducted a series of studies to conceptualize, operationalize, and validate entrepreneurial career success from a Chinese perspective. For Study 1, we defined constructs based on interpretations of Hong Kong entrepreneurs. In Study 2 (Hong Kong entrepreneurs) and Study 3 (Shanghai entrepreneurs and their employees), we developed and validated measures. Guided primarily by social identity theory, we mapped the criterion space and tested etic and emic predictors of career success.

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Notes

  1. The χ2 difference test is valid only when the models for comparison stand in nested sequence. A nested relationship exists between two models if one can obtain the model with the fewer number of free parameters by constraining some or all of the parameters in the model with larger numbers of free parameters. In other words, the model with fewer parameters is a subset of the model with more parameters. Whether Model A is nested in Model B depends on whether all the relationships constituting Model A exist in Model B. If Model A is obtained by deleting some parameters from Model B but adding some other parameters, then the two models are not nested (Kelloway, 1998). In our study, both the hypothesized model and the nonmediated model were nested in the partially mediated model. Thus, the partially mediated model was compared with the hypothesized model and nonmediated model.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was developed from the first author's PhD thesis under the supervision of the second author. It was funded by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and supported by a direct grant from the RGC of the Hong Kong SAR to the third author. I would like to thank our JIBS Departmental Editor, Professor Terri Scandura and the three anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Victor P Lau & Kevin Au

  2. The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, School of Business Administration, Milwaukee, USA

    Margaret A Shaffer

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  1. Victor P Lau
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  2. Margaret A Shaffer
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  3. Kevin Au
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victor P Lau.

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Accepted by Terri Scandura, Departmental Editor. This paper has been with the authors for two revisions.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Entrepreneurial career success measures see Table A1.

Table 10 Table a1
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Lau, V., Shaffer, M. & Au, K. Entrepreneurial career success from a Chinese perspective: conceptualization, operationalization, and validation. J Int Bus Stud 38, 126–146 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400252

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