Entrepreneurship and team participation: An experimental study

Entrepreneurs are surprisingly unlikely to have partners. One possible explanation for this is that entrepreneurs have distinctive preferences for working alone rather than in teams. However, a number of alternative explanations exist, such as an inability to locate suitable partners or low profitability from having a partner. Utilizing a diverse subject population with a high proportion of active entrepreneurs, we use a team production experiment to directly examine whether entrepreneurs prefer to work alone or in a team. The experiment also measures an important determinant of entrepreneurs' performances within teams, and their relative tendency to free-ride. The data indicate that entrepreneurs, while no more likely to free-ride on their teammates, are substantially more interested in working alone than similar non-entrepreneurs.

► We study whether entrepreneurs have relatively strong preferences for working alone. ► Experimental data comes from a diverse subject pool including active entrepreneurs. ► Entrepreneurs are far less interested in joining teams than their peers. ► Entrepreneurs are no more likely to free-ride than their peers.