Perceived new venture creation speed: The relevance of the university’s context and entrepreneurial experience

Abstract

This study scrutinizes how the perceived new venture creation speed is explained by variables connected to the individuals’ human capital, the business planning process, and the university’s context. The empirical analysis employs an ordered logit model on a sample drawn from the GUESSS databases for 2018 that includes information for 636 Costa Rican university students who are involved in nascent entrepreneurial activities. The results highlight two different patterns of new venture creation speed among nascent entrepreneurs: older students who are carrying out tasks related to their potential venture—i.e., writing a business plan and searching for external funding—perceive that they need less time to create their new business, whereas university’s program learning slows down the perceived start-up speed among individuals with past entrepreneurial experience. Additionally, the findings highlight the importance of business planning tasks for developing practical and strategic capabilities, as well as of the business-specific cumulative knowledge generated by past entrepreneurial experience. Implications on how universities can promote students’ entrepreneurial activity by improving their entrepreneurial environment and program learning are discussed.