Private Equity: Antecedents, Outcomes, Mediators, and Moderators

Abstract

As private equity’s financial heft and influence on the business landscape has intensified, so too has scholarly interest in the phenomenon. We review recent progress in private equity research, with a focus on the private equity industry’s later-stage buyout segment. To synthesize and integrate current findings, we construct a framework that encompasses not only antecedents and outcomes of private equity’s activities, but also mediators and moderators of the relationships that drive these outcomes. Based upon the gaps and learning opportunities that are surfaced by this framework, we develop recommendations for future private equity research. The proposed research agenda is particularly germane to management scholars, whose theories and perspectives have thus far been productively, yet relatively sparingly, applied in private equity research.