创业企业新产品开发项目失败中创业学习的形成机制及对随后机会识别的影响研究

New product development (NPD) is a central approach for startups to achieve rapid growth, organizational renewal, and to change the competition structure of their markets. However, where there is uncertainty, there is bound to be failure, and it is thus not surprising that many NPD projects fail. Entrepreneurship scholars argue that entrepreneurs can learn more from the failure than the success. They posit that the concept of entrepreneurial learning from failure remains underdeveloped, particularly, with respect to the antecendents and outcomes. In an attempt to fill this research gap, the present research combines both historical and longitudinal analyses, as the primary research design, aiming to explore the antecedents of entrepreneurial learning and its effects on the quantity and quality of opportunities identified after the NPD project failure. In addition, the study examines the moderation of reward systems in NPD projects on the relationship between entrepreneurial learning and opportunities identification. It identifies two antecedents of entrepreneurial learning from NPD project failure, namely: the nature of opportunity of failed NPD projects, and the attribution of NPD failures. The varying aspects of entrepreneurial learning, identified by the corporate entrepreneur, in turn, influence the quantity and quality of opportunity differently. This research thus aims to deepen our understanding of the contingent relationship between corporate entrepreneurship failure and success by revealing the formation mechanism of entrepreneurial learning from failure and its subsequent effects on opportunity identification after the NPD project failure. The reseach contributes to the literatures on entrepreneurial learning and opportunity identification, and has implications for corporate entrepreneurs. Specifically, it directs their attention towards the appreciation on how to learn and identify more and more innovative opportunities from the NPD project failure. For startups, the ability to cultivate both a moderate failure-tolerance culture and reward system institution, maximizes the value of entrepreneurial learning from the NPD project failure.

新产品开发是创业企业实现成长、组织更新和改变市场竞争结构的主要手段，但是多数新产品开发项目以失败告终。虽然学者赞同失败情景有重要学习价值，但是至今对失败情景下创业学习的前因与后果研究匮乏。本课题聚焦于新产品开发项目失败研究情景，采用追溯研究和跟踪研究相结合的研究设计，在挖掘失败项目情景的机会特征基础上，探索创业学习的形成机制及其对创业者随后识别的机会数量和机会质量的影响，构建"失败项目机会性质-失败归因-创业学习-机会识别"理论模型，合并考察新产品开发项目激励制度对创业学习和机会识别之间关系的调节作用。本研究目的在于揭示项目失败情景下创业学习和机会识别的形成机制，深化对公司创业失败与公司创业成功之间复杂关系的理解，对创业学习和机会识别相关理论做出贡献。研究结果有助于启发创业者及其团队从新产品开发项目失败中创业学习进而发现新的商机，并为创业企业构建适度宽容失败的组织文化和制度提供科学依据。

新产品开发是创业企业实现成长、组织更新和改变市场竞争结构的主要手段，但是多数新产品开发项目以失败告终。虽然学者赞同失败情景有重要学习价值，但是至今对失败情景下创业学习的前因与后果研究匮乏。本课题聚焦于新产品开发项目失败研究情景，采用追溯研究和跟踪研究相结合的研究设计，在挖掘失败项目情景的机会特征基础上，探索创业学习的形成机制及其对创业者随后机会识别的影响，构建“失败项目机会性质—失败归因—创业学习—机会识别”理论模型。本课题共发表期刊论文25篇，包括国际期刊论文10篇（均为SSCI），中文期刊论文15篇（均为CSSCI），待发表论文1篇（CSSCI），全面、系统地揭示了项目失败情景下创业学习和机会识别的形成机制，深化对公司创业失败与公司创业成功之间复杂关系的理解，对创业学习和机会识别相关理论做出贡献。研究结果有助于启发创业者及其团队从新产品开发项目失败中创业学习进而发现新的商机，并为创业企业构建适度宽容失败的组织文化和制度提供科学依据。