Bouncing back from failure: Entrepreneurial resilience and the internationalization of subsequent ventures created by serial entrepreneurs

Abstract

This paper examines the impact over international propensity of past negative entrepreneurial experience for those who re-enter into entrepreneurial activity; referred to as resilient serial entrepreneurs. We first hypothesize on the effects over entrepreneurial re-entry that such negative past experience may have and highlight the link between the past entrepreneurial experience of resilient entrepreneurs and their subsequent propensity towards international markets. Building on insights from the generative experiential learning process of entrepreneurial activity and from cognition theories, we propose that resilient entrepreneurs who re-enter business despite having faced negative entrepreneurial experiences in the past benefit from enriched cognitive schemas leading them to greater export propensity. The proposed hypotheses are tested on a unique sample drawn from a Spanish adult population survey. Results from the sequential deductive triangulation analysis (QUAN -> qual) reveal that practical experience is an essential prerequisite for entrepreneurial learning, and that the resilience of those with negative entrepreneurial experience induces the generative entrepreneurial learning especially suitable for subsequent internationally oriented ventures.