The Art of Racing: Cracking the Puzzle of Programs Supporting Startup Creation

The purpose of the present thesis, which is the main result of the author’s doctoral journey, is to decode initiatives to support startup creation: entrepreneurship education programmes and startup competitions. This thesis explores the topic from a dual perspective: theoretical and empirical. From an organizational lens, it adopts a three-paper model and is outlined in five chapters. To start with, the first chapter paves the way for the three studies of the thesis, providing an overview of the relevant literatures and methodologies employed. Then, the second chapter consists of an ethnographic study that investigates the interplay between diversity, entrepreneurship education programmes and startup dynamics. The study displays that diversity influences the design of startups as well as entrepreneurial support programmes. Thanks to a systematic literature review, the third chapter defines the state of the art of startup competitions, offers a conceptual framework to help in understanding this phenomenon, and provides a research agenda that calls for future empirical studies. The chapter attempts to offer a comprehensive definition of the competitions through the identified aggregate dimensions: “characteristics and specifics of startup competitions”, “actors involved in startup competitions”, “aims of startup competitions”, “evaluation in startup competitions”, and “nature of startup competitions”. The fourth chapter identifies the organizer’s types of work to foster generalized exchange within mixed motive contexts. The findings obtained thanks to the conducted interviews consist of “design work”, “ritual work”, “communication work”, and “collective emotional work”. The final chapter offers a general discussion of the thesis’ results, with theoretical and practical implications.