Factors Responsible for the Success of a Start-up: A Meta-Analytic Approach
Authors: ['Santosh Kumar', 'S. S. Yadav', 'A. K. Sharma']
Year: 2021
Methodology
- Sample: 64 empirical studies
- Design: meta-analysis
- Data: Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, EBSCO
Factors Extracted (7)
Entrepreneurial Experience [strong] — Correlation (r) = 0.21
Education Level [moderate] — Correlation (r) = 0.14
Prior Industry Experience [strong] — Correlation (r) = 0.18
Founding Team Size [moderate] — Correlation (r) = 0.12
Financial Resources/Capital [strong] — Correlation (r) = 0.24
Market Orientation [strong] — Correlation (r) = 0.31
Innovation/R&D Intensity [strong] — Correlation (r) = 0.26
Key Findings
- Market orientation and innovation intensity are the strongest predictors of startup success, outperforming individual founder traits.
- Financial capital availability has a higher correlation with success (0.24) than the founder's formal education level (0.14).
- Human capital factors (experience and skills) show a consistent positive effect across different geographic regions and industries.
Limitations
- Publication bias in the underlying studies (the 'file drawer' problem).
- Heterogeneity in how 'success' is defined across different studies (e.g., survival vs. ROI vs. growth).
- The meta-analysis is limited by the quality and reporting standards of the original 64 empirical papers.
Extracted by lib/ingest/literature_review.py via gemini-flash