Workplace peers and entrepreneurship
By: Ramana Nanda, Jesper B. Sørensen
Contributors: Sørensen, Jesper B.; Harvard Business School
Edition: 2nd rev.
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 08-051; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 08-051.
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2008
Place of publication: [Boston]
Number of pages: 25
Description: We examine whether the likelihood of entrepreneurial activity is related to the prior career experiences of an individual's co-workers, using a unique matched employer-employee panel dataset. We argue that coworkers can increase the likelihood that an individual will perceive entrepreneurial opportunities as well as increase his or her motivation to pursue those opportunities. We find that an individual is more likely to become an entrepreneur if his or her co-workers have been entrepreneurs before. Peer influences also appear to be substitutes for other sources of entrepreneurial influence: we find that peer influences are strongest for those who have less exposure to entrepreneurship in other aspects of their lives.
Notes: "January 2008, revised January 2009, March 2010"--Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references.