The Aha Moment! The Effects of Serendipity and Innovation on Crowdfunding Performance

Serendipity has played a significant role in the history of invention. Yet, little is known about whether serendipitous inventions are perceived as more or less innovative and thus achieve greater success in seeking funding than those resulting from deliberate processes. The current study explores this issue using a matched-pair sample of 168 serendipitous and non-serendipitous inventions used by entrepreneurs to raise capital through crowdfunding. The results demonstrate that serendipitous inventions are more positively related to crowdfunding success than non-serendipitous ones via perceptions of product innovativeness. Thus, serendipitous inventions appear to be socially rewarded rather than penalized in the context of crowdfunding.This article is published as Oo, P. P., Sahaym, A., Hmieleski, K. M., Chan, R., & Parhankangas, A. (2024). The Aha Moment! The Effects of Serendipity and Innovation on Crowdfunding Performance. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587241254069. Posted with permission. © The Author(s) 2024.Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)

Do CIOs Matter in the Face of Exogenous Shocks? An Examination Through Upper Echelon Theory

Information Technology has taken a prominent role in firm investments, yet there is considerable variation in returns in technology-based expenditures. We posit that the technology leader such as the CIO or CTO is a valuable resource and plays a critical role when the position is endowed with power. Our analysis shows how a technology leader’s influential presence affects firm performance, particularly in the presence of an IT-related exogenous shock. Using cross-industry data, we find that firms with powerful technology leaders generate higher sales growth, and furthermore, in the presence of exogenous shocks, markets reward firms having powerful technology leaders. </jats:p