Becoming a Founder: How Founder Role Identity Affects Entrepreneurial Transitions and Persistence in Founding

The authors develop a new theory that views organizational founding as involving a role transition. Through the construct of founder role identity, the authors delineate how identity centrality and complexity affect individuals' ability to exit a work role in order to undertake founding activities. The authors argue that individuals are challenged to adjust to the founder role requirements and incorporate the new role into an overall self-concept. The authors then delineate how configurations of founder role identities influence persistence, and the longer-term outcomes of dormancy and successful founding.