Abstract
Entrepreneurs and small businesses drive the United States economy and angel investors help drive the growth and success of these ventures. The body of research on business angels provides evidence of the importance of both their financial and non-financial resources in connection with monetary investments; however, no research exists on business angels’ propensity to provide non-financial resources absent the financial investment. Additionally, prior research has not provided a consistent measure for non-financial resources. In this two-study dissertation, I developed a theoretical model grounded in signaling theory and social exchange theory to investigate this potentially unrecognized entrepreneurial ecosystem benefit. Additional consideration was given to gender homophily in the investment process as female entrepreneurs and female business angels are steadily increasing and affecting the U.S. business landscape.
Study 1 developed a measure of non-financial resources. The measure captures three dimensions of non-financial resources (1) Advice, (2) Hands-On Assistance, and (3) Validation, and demonstrates convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity. Study 2 used the newly developed measure to investigate the propensity of angels to provide non-financial resource investment, absent the financial investment, by testing a moderated mediation model of non-financial resource investment’s antecedents. Results provided mixed support for the effect of homophily but indicated that angels do value an entrepreneur’s passion and coachability in the provision of non-financial resources. The implications of the results are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed.