The Role of Political Values and Ideologies of Entrepreneurs and Financiers

Abstract

We examine how entrepreneurs’ political values affect their ventures’ stakeholder orientation, and how this orientation affects venture funding. We also show how the political ideologies of financiers influence their investment choices and relationships with entrepreneurs. Using a sample of 652 ventures backed by 332 financiers and information on political values and ideologies of entrepreneurs and financiers, along with text-based analyses of documents to infer stakeholder orientation, we find ventures with a narrow orientation obtain more funding than those with a broader orientation, and this relationship is moderated by financiers’ political ideologies. The findings have implications for stakeholder theory in entrepreneurship.