Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2008
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Workplace Peers and Entrepreneurship

By: Ramana Nanda and Jesper B. Sorensen
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:47
ShareBar

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Experience and Expertise; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence

Citation

Nanda, Ramana, and Jesper B. Sorensen. "Workplace Peers and Entrepreneurship." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-051, January 2008. (revised January 2009, March 2010.)
  • Read Now

About The Author

Ramana Nanda

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • September 2022
    • Journal of Monetary Economics

    House Prices, Home Equity and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from U.S. Census Micro Data

    By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Are Transformational Ideas Harder to Fund? Resource Allocation to R&D Projects at a Global Pharmaceutical Firm

    By: Joshua Krieger and Ramana Nanda
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Investment Committee Voting and the Financing of Innovation

    By: Andrey Malenko, Ramana Nanda, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Savitar Sundaresan
More from the Authors
  • House Prices, Home Equity and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from U.S. Census Micro Data By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
  • Are Transformational Ideas Harder to Fund? Resource Allocation to R&D Projects at a Global Pharmaceutical Firm By: Joshua Krieger and Ramana Nanda
  • Investment Committee Voting and the Financing of Innovation By: Andrey Malenko, Ramana Nanda, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Savitar Sundaresan
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College