Tesis Doctorales

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Entrepreneurial behavior under risk and uncertainty
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2024) Benítez Lavado, Ignacia; Vergara Farías, Marcos
In this paper we study the impact of risk on time allocation decisions between occupations by modeling a hybrid entrepreneur who must decide how to allocate time between paid employment (labor) and working on a venture (entrepreneurship). We argue that hybrid entrepreneurs self-insure in response to income risk by managing the time they allocate between both occupations. We provide the conditions under which an uninsurable risk (in paid employment or the entrepreneurial sector) has a non-ambiguous precautionary effect on the optimal time allocated to each occupation, and these conditions are based on the strengths of risk aversion and downside risk aversion. We focus on three cases: when risk affects only the entrepreneurial sector, which is the classical case studied in the occupational choice literature; when risk affects only the paid employment sector; and finally, when risk affects both sectors, as we experienced during the recent pandemic.
Assessing the role of corporate governance in non-financial performance: An Empirical Examination
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2024) Díaz Tautiva, Julián; Salvaj, Erica
Research on corporate governance has garnered increased scholarly and practitioner interest since 2000, driven by rising stakeholder pressures regarding the role and objectives of firms. While traditional economic literature emphasizes the central role of financial performance, new societal paradigms are prompting organizations to prioritize non-financial performance, including environmental and societal dimensions. Despite prior research exploring the role of corporate governance in driving organizational non-financial performance, there have been inconclusive and contradictory empirical findings. This lack of consensus has spurred a growing call to employ robust, sophisticated methods to enhance our understanding of this phenomenon. This thesis responds to the recent call to develop robust empirical analyses by incorporating novel theoretical developments and employing advanced econometric methods. The thesis aims to evaluate the effect of corporate governance on non-financial organizational performance through three research papers. The first paper (Chapter 2) delves into the literature from 1990 to 2022, shedding light on prevailing intellectual trends and debates in this research field. The second paper (Chapter 3) unveils a dynamic social mechanism that shapes and constrains corporate governance mechanisms, influencing non-financial performance. The third paper (Chapter 4) untangles the complementarities of various internal corporate governance mechanisms and their effect on non-financial performance. This thesis provides novel theoretical and methodological approaches to explore this complex phenomenon, offering practical and policy implications
Contextualizing indigenous venturing: emerging insights for context-based indigenous entrepreneurship research
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2024) Barros Celume, Sebastián; Pavez, Ignacio
We have a limited understanding of entrepreneurship beyond Western developed contexts. Commonly, mainstream entrepreneurship research relies on assumptions which do not always hold across different segments of the population, such as Indigenous peoples , a still marginalized and under researched segment of society. D espite its relevance for emancipation , economic independence, and sustainable development among Indigenous communities worldwide, Indigenous entrepreneurship remains largely understudied in our field . Therefore , in this doctoral thesis composed of two research articles, I examine some underexplored aspects of Indigenous venturing, focusing on the cultural backgrounds and contextual specificities in which Indigenous entrepreneurship takes place . In doing so, I seek to stress the need for more inclusive research, urging a reconsideration of some of our common knowledge and taken for granted entrepreneurial perspectives. In the first article of this dissertation , I explore the interface between Indigenous entrepreneurship and place, considering both the 'material' and 'socially constructed' dimensions of place. Specifically, I examine Latin American Indigenous individuals from different ethnicities, engaging in venturing across urban, remote, and rural locations. My findings put into perspective the key influence of place in Indigenous venturing , ranging from deeply embedded and relational ventures in remote settings to Western influenced business approaches within urban areas . Overall, I contribute with an empirical typology that provides a more detailed understanding of the context laden and highly idiosyncratic nature of Indigenous entrepreneurship, focusing on the emergence, orientation, main outcomes, and constraints among Indigenous ventures from different places and groups of people Building on embeddedness theory, in the second chapter of this dissertation I seek to gain new insights into the embedding process among Indigenous entrepreneurs migrating from their native settlements into urban environments . M y findings reveal that migrant Indigenous entrepreneurs engage in distinct ive prosocial and sustainable ventures, bringing their context laden traditions, beliefs, and values to the urban realm through their businesses. Based on this evidence , I showcas e the pivotal role that their home contexts play in the ir agentic embedding wi thin host contexts . I also contribut e to a multi contextual understanding of embeddedness, considering both distal and proximal contexts at a time.
Determinants and impacts of digital entrepreneurship: an international perspective
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2023) Yáñez-Valdés, Claudia; Guerrero, Maribel
Over the past decades, accumulated knowledge has demonstrated a strong link between technologies and entrepreneurship. The recent emergence of multiple "digital" technologies represents both an opportunity and a challenge for entrepreneurs. Especially the healthcare crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a rethinking of the link between digitalization and new business models. Like any dynamic process, ventures face a complex adaptation process that determines their success or failure. Inspired by the observed research opportunities we put forward this PhD thesis based on the findings of the first essay where we defined that digital entrepreneurship is determined by the degree of digitization and the type of technology used. Based on this, we propose in the second essay a nationwide review of Fintech, as a type of DE with a high level of digitalization and a complex mix of technologies. The operation and performance of these initiatives not only contribute to the economic development of emerging economies, but also generate a transformative impact on their environment, stakeholders, and society. This transformative effect allows the democratization of digital services, making them accessible to groups marginalized by the traditional financial banking system. Then, in the third essay, we explore the relevance of DE in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global closures have increased the emergence of the Digital Social Entrepreneurship (DSE) phenomenon, which has been key to responding to social needs using digital technologies. In the fourth essay we show crowdfunding as a type of entrepreneurship with an intermediate degree of digitalization, which is supported by the development of open innovation communities that seek to contribute to solving various social and economic problems. Finally, we present a vision of the development of entrepreneurial activity through digital gig and share economy platforms, which are a type of entrepreneurship with a low degree of digitalization that allows the exchange of goods and services as an alternative to traditional employment. In this last essay we take a view of the democratic context as a factor influencing the inclusion of disadvantaged groups. This research has important theoretical and practical implications for consolidating the formation of digital societies where all actors in society are considered as part of the cocreation of value.
Differentiating innovation and entrepreneurial theories on developed and underdeveloped economies
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2023) Mahn Borkowsky, Daniel Alfredo; Poblete, Carlos
Entrepreneurship and innovation are crucial drivers of economic growth and are therefore used as public policy tools in Western economies. As such, emergent and underdeveloped economies have been importing and replicating successful policy models from developed countries in an attempt to catch up with advanced nations. As many of the theories in the economic and entrepreneurship literature have taken on the perspective of developed countries, their authors have stated the need to test them in different settings to further delineate their boundary conditions and robustness. Three essays, each focusing on a different theory of entrepreneurial innovation, are developed to test this idea. The first essay focuses on how the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (KSTE), which details the mechanism by which unused knowledge accumulates in a region and transforms into new businesses, behaves when anchored in the context of a developing economy. The regional data from Chile covering the period of 2010 to 2019 that is applied as a case study for the identification of boundary conditions shows that the theory has low effectiveness, as it only applies to those industries with a high dependency on knowledge. It also highlights the roles played by human capital, diversity, and barriers to entry in these kinds of markets. The second essay examines how informal institutions lure cross-border venture capital (VC) inflows into a market. The main rationale behind the study is that private funding entering or leaving a country can detail how the cultural characteristics of that country benefit or block its VC enabling capability, allowing us to explore an ideal set of cultural characteristics. To test this, a country-pair dataset of cross-border VC investments is used and the Hofstede et al. (1990) cultural framework is applied as a proxy for informal institutions. The results confirm and expand those of the prior literature, establishing specific cultural characteristics that support and hinder both investors and entrepreneurial activity. When adding interaction effects with formal institutions' development, the results imply that the ideal set of informal institutions for fostering VC activity differs depending on the level of formal institutions. Finally, the third essay tests whether the link between optimism and innovative capabilities holds when shifting from an individual to an aggregated level. Using a year sample of 42 countries between 2000 and 2020 and separating the effect of optimism on its two main sources of innovation, new and incumbent firms, our results suggest that the link between optimism and innovation is not straightforward: the results vary depending on the measures of innovation and optimism taken for analysis. First, our results support that business confidence (incumbent firms) supports more researchers involved in research and development and higher total factors of productivity increments (TFP), while consumer confidence (new firms) only affects TFP. Second, when separating the sample by income levels, in high-income economies, more optimism increases the number of researchers, while in middle-income countries, optimism affects spending on R&D and TFP. Finally, our results do not show any significant effects of overoptimism on the dependable variables.
Knowledge and information leakages in strategic alliances with competitors
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2022) Chávez Bustamante, Felipe Orlando Gabriel; Troncoso Valverde, Cristian
Alliances allow businesses to access valuable resources in complex environments. Nonetheless, these interfirm agreements also make firms’ boundaries permeable to involuntary leakages of information and knowledge. This dissertation theoretically examines the interplay between information and knowledge leakages, the nature and intensity of market competition, and the incentives to pursue strategic alliances with competitors. To this end, the dissertation adopts a game-theoretic approach that accounts for the market consequences of knowledge and information leakages and the incentives to pursue strategic alliances that they generate. The main findings suggest that knowledge and information leakages might induce firms to engage in opportunistic behaviour and that the threat of such behaviour has important effects on the incentives to participate in these interfirm agreements. Thus, while knowledge leakage may drive firms to behave opportunistically by imitating its competitor, information leakage has the potential to alter the information structure of competition, modifying the incentives to generate joint value through the pursuit of strategic alliances. These findings constitute novel theoretical insights about the effects of knowledge and information leakages on the competitive behaviour of firms interacting in environments in which they simultaneously cooperate and compete with the intent to create joint value.
Breaking stereotypes and taboos in women's entrepreneurship : New evidence around old paradigms
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2022) Ibáñez Caamaño, María José; Guerrero, Maribel
This research references two articles that provide theoretical and empirical evidence that counters female entrepreneurship stereotypes and taboos. The first paper tests three gender-stereotypical assumptions prevalent in the entrepreneurship literature: the female gender decreases the propensity for entrepreneurship, women are less willing to enter high-growth industries, and women's valuation of entrepreneurial skills reduces their likelihood of entrepreneurship. A multivariate probit model to test these assumptions was implemented using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data for eight countries in the period 2009–2016. The findings show that the female gender does not decrease the probability of being an entrepreneur and that perceived entrepreneurial skills influence the entrepreneurial propensity of men and women equally. The results indicate that the female gender reduces the likelihood of entrepreneurship in a high-growth industry. The second article discusses the influence of entrepreneurship on the empowerment and emancipation of female entrepreneurs in the Global South countries. Using the World Values Survey, this study provides empirical evidence of how entrepreneurship affects women's empowerment and emancipation differently depending on the Global South country and compared with other occupational choices, such as full-time employees and homemakers. Our study includes provocative implications in a discussion about gender dynamics, and the most vulnerable women enrolled in entrepreneurial activities in hostile/fragile institutional contexts.
Innovation strategy decision: a discussion of complementary between technological and nontechnological innovations
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2022) Guzmán Cofré, Cristian Marcelo; Váquez Lavín, Felipe
There is an extensive theoretical and empirical discussion regarding the linear relationship between R&D expenditure and innovation. However, the innovationdecision is not dichotomous since it implies the choice of a combination of technological and non-technological innovation options. Similarly, not only does internal R&D spending allow firms to innovate, but so-called non-R&D activities also allow firms to develop innovations. In this thesis we analyze two theoretical currents found in the innovation literature, innovation strategy and innovation complementarity, to discuss and show which of them allows us to better explain the innovation-decision of firms. We also analyze the effect that internal and external characteristics of firms have on their preferences for the types of R&D and non-R&D activities for the development of innovations.
Entrepreneurship and institutional theory: Three essays
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2022-05) Gómez Álvarez, Hugo; Guerrero, Maribel
From productivism to regeneration in socio-ecological systems: an exploration of tensions, trade-offs and ways forward
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2021) Hernández Gutiérrez, Mauricio; Sepúlveda U., Jean; Muñoz R., Pablo
This thesis explores an ideological phenomenon that underlies organizational sustainability practices grounded on active restoration, natural regeneration, and environmental protection. It originates as a contraposition to a productivist ideology attached to growth, the commodification of nature, and the arbitrary use of ecosystems and resources to satisfy human needs, excessive consumption, and business demands. It differs from environmental management practices and counter-movements, making explicit its methodology based on the place flourishing, harmonization, and reconciliation of organizations and natural systems, and on a deep ecocentric ethic that recognizes the intrinsic value in all forms of life and ecosystems themselves, including their abiotic components. We label it Regenerativism, and we define it as the belief that placerestoration, ecological engagement, and protection of life support systems are the inherent action-purpose and responsibility of the human organization. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate and explore the principles, mechanisms, and microfoundations that actively shape acts of repair, regeneration, and protection of ecosystems at the organizational level, which allow for shedding light on a transformative change in the beliefs system and ways of seeing the world. The thesis applies configurational methods to address causal complexity, and inductive exploratory methods, based on informal interviews, ethnographies, and audio-visual methods, to uncover and theorize about new premises that build plausible ecological values, ecocentric principles, and regenerative practices at the organizational level beyond the sustainability paradigm. The first paper proposes a conceptual framework with six interrelated building blocks that could be the explanatory basis for the "Regenerativism" phenomenon. Although Ecocentrism is a worldview that recognizes the intrinsic value in ecosystems and the biological and physical elements that compose them, Regenerativism is part of the ecological processes that connect ecosystems and the biological and physical elements spatially and temporally. The second article allows us to elucidate ecocentric management approaches using one of the blocks proposed above in the framework of sustainability-as-flourishing. Configurational methods are used to offer a new conceptual apparatus and a systemic characterization of ecocentrism in business sustainability. Finally, the third article interweaves three proposed building blocks to explore through an ethnographic study how regenerative organizations work and collaborate with nonhuman animals in acts of restoration and protection of nature. We call it: human-animal mutualism in environmental protection work, and our findings could shed light on the importance of understanding meaningful human-animal relationships to advance our knowledge of environmental protection and business sustainability more broadly. Overall, the findings suggest Regenerativism, within the world of Ecocentrism, is reconnecting human systems and natural systems in acts of restoration, protection, and ecological regeneration. These results also indicate how the organizations that promote and lead regenerativism, an elusive approach until now, are capable of mitigating productivism and weighing it under planetary boundaries. The thesis further shows relevant, unique, and empirical evidence on ecocentric approaches to business management, and principles grounded on animal mutualism to restore and protect patterns of vegetation, biological diversity, and the abundance of species. The findings result in a model that would allow exploring and uncover new micro-foundations based on a socio-ecological context and would allow contributing not only to transform our belief system and ways of seeing the world, but also to materialize regenerative environmental management actions beyond business sustainability practices that are still far from the zero impact that would characterize them as a sustainable enterprise
Market segmentation under the choice modelling framework
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2021) Campos Requena, Nélyda Aurora; Vásquez Lavín, Felipe; Yao, Jun
This thesis examines market segmentation from an economic perspective by drawing on the choice modelling framework. The market segmentation literature focuses on providing information to marketers about customers, especially about their wants, needs and preferences regarding different products or services. A challenge confronting marketing researchers is to improve the estimation of market segments. The latent class model (LCM) has been extensively used to capture consumers’ heterogeneity and identify market segments. However, some questions remain unanswered. How reliable and effective is the LCM in capturing customer heterogeneity, especially unobserved heterogeneity? How are estimation results affected if customers do not consider all information provided in the choice tasks; that is, when attribute non-attendance (ANA) occurs? To answer these questions, this thesis assessed the LCM in two ways. First, it was compared with an alternative model––the mixed logit model (MLM)––and the role of individual-specific posterior distributions (ISPs) was evaluated to account for unobserved heterogeneity and identify market segments. Second, the thesis assessed the role of ANA in modelling and identifying market segments. This thesis consists of three studies. The first study identifies market segments by examining customer heterogeneity from the ISP in the MLM and the LCM. When using the ISP in the LCM as the basis for segmentation, there is an explicit recognition that class membership is probabilistic. The identified market segments are compared in terms of the number of customers in each segment and their characteristics. The results suggest differences in both customer number and characteristics. The second study performs a Monte Carlo simulation to determine the impact of consumer heterogeneity on the accuracy of the LCM and the MLM in identifying market segments. The design comprises four experiments with two levels of heterogeneity (low and high) and the presence or absence of small (niche) segments. The results showed that the accuracy of the models is contingent on the level of heterogeneity of individuals. Specifically, when heterogeneity is low, segments estimated by the LCM are more precise; however, when heterogeneity is high, the MLM outperforms the LCM. The results also suggest that using ISPs as the basis for segmentation in the LCM makes it possible to identify market segments more accurately when heterogeneity is high. In the presence of niche segments, there was no evidence of one model outperforming the other. The third study accounts for ANA in identifying market segments using an LCM. Images were added to text, allowing consumers to visualise attribute levels. This was used to reduce ANA as a coping mechanism for complex tasks, thereby better capturing genuine consumer preferences. The results showed that inferred ANA combined with stated ANA in the LCM improves model performance. Moreover, using images to present attribute levels improves model performance when ANA is accounted for in the estimation.
Exploring the development of social identity in firm founders
(Universidad del Desarrollo. Facultad de Economía y Negocios, 2021) Soto Simeone, Aracely Monserrat; Sepúlveda Umanzor, Jean
This doctoral thesis builds on social identity theory to examine (i) how and why firm founders develop different social identity types; and (ii) how identification with social groups shapes founders’ entrepreneurial endeavors. Using a qualitative research approach, I introduce a model of cultural influence on the founder’s social identity in emerging adulthood, and propose a new taxonomy that captures different social identity types in senior entrepreneurs. My findings contribute to understand how culture influences the development of entrepreneurial motivations for young firm founders, and how older individuals can build entrepreneurial identities in pursuit of dignity and an active ageing. The study also brings to the fore the inclusion of non-monetary objectives in any conceptualization of self-interest in an entrepreneurial context.

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