The Impact of Startup Employment on Individuals’ Earnings

The Impact of Startup Employment on Individuals’ Earnings

Elena Kulchina (NC State University)

Please note that this event will be online only. The webinar can be accessed at the following link.

ABSTRACT:

Research suggests that startup experience is negatively associated with individuals’ earnings and startup employees earn less than employees of established firms, even after they leave startups. If true, this would make it hard for startups to find quality labor. Using a matched sample of Spanish employees and their employers, we investigate whether the long-term negative effect applies to all startup employees or whether startup employees who are opportunity seekers, more committed to their jobs, and associated with successful startups fare better than others and, perhaps, even as well as employees of established firms. We find that employees who joined startups with improvement of their contract terms or stayed there for at least three years did as well in the long run or better than employees of established firms. Furthermore, many of them retained their advanced contract terms at their next job. Employees who joined a startup without improved contract terms likely had few outside options or were future entrepreneurs-in-training.

BIO:

Elena Kulchina is an associate professor of strategic management at the North Carolina State University and a faculty affiliate at the Duke University, Fuqua School of Business. Her research interests are at the intersection of strategic management, entrepreneurship, and international business. Her areas of research are foreign and domestic entrepreneurs, management of entrepreneurial and multinational ventures, founders’ role in start-ups, the impact of international migration on organizations, and strategy and geography. Her work has been published and is forthcoming at the Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and Management Science. Elena has received multiple research awards, including the Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship, the Emerging Scholar Award in International Management from the Academy of Management, the Temple/AIB Best Paper Award, and the NFIB Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in Entrepreneurship from the Academy of Management. Her work has been funded by the Kauffman Foundation, University of Virginia (Darden) Batten Institute, and Duke University. Elena serves on the editorial boards of the Strategic Management Journal and the Academy of Management Review. She was previously an assistant professor at the Duke University, Fuqua School of Business. She received her doctorate degree in strategic management from the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management.