Abstract
We assess whether and how entrepreneurs' digital identities change in response to entrepreneurial failure based on a sample of 760 entrepreneurs who experienced failure. We analyze a longitudinal dataset of Twitter messages before, during, and after a business failure with a language-based method of computerized text analysis. The results of our explorative research indicate that the financial, social, and psychological consequences of failure are reflected in entrepreneurs' Tweets and lead to changes in their digital identities. Among others, entrepreneurs' language decreases in emotional tone and indicates increased psychological distress. Simultaneously, we observe higher levels of self-assurance and reflection after failure. We conclude by outlining the potential of using Twitter-generated digital footprints in future entrepreneurship research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 106015 |
| Journal | Journal of Business Venturing |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgements:We gratefully acknowledge the capable research assistance provided by Pascal Klos. Also, we thank Andreas Kuckertz, participants of the 2018 ACE Bootcamp in Brisbane (Australia), the 2019 TIE conference in Darmstadt (Germany), and the 2019 G-Forum in Vienna (Austria) for helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.