Entrepreneurial leadership styles : a comparative study between Startups and mature firms

Lots of reasons lead to rise and fall Startup. A critical success factor can be the leadership styles of entrepreneurs. However, as the business and the workforce grow the founders need to be aware of a growing responsibility towards their employees. They might lose sight of leading their employees in the most beneficial way. This article shows scientific theories about entrepreneurial leadership and tries to build a link to Startups. Several propositions are derived from related theories and will serve as a basis for the research. The theoretical framework will be enlarged by a comparative study between Startups and mature firms. Findings provide evidence for the application of entrepreneurial leadership across industries and firm sizes. Though, several findings indicate a similarity between the two types of businesses, a few noticeable differences have been identified during the analysis of the interviews. Both types of firms pursue a democratic, goal oriented and transformational leadership style. Nevertheless, Startups do not draw a clear line between leading entrepreneurially and not leading to ad hoc decisions.