Mathias Schubert 
Leadership Behaviour of Start-up Founder-CEOs [PDF ebook] 
A qualitative study into entrepreneurs’ choices of leadership behaviours and the influencing factors that mediate these choices

Master’s Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics – Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: Distinction, Durham University (Durham University Business School), course: Management (Entrepreneurship), language: English, abstract: Scholars only recently recognised the fact that new entrepreneurial ventures (i.e. start-ups) cannot be created and grown without the leadership of founders who initially formulate the vision and strategy of their organisations, set particular goals, and motivate and manage the efforts of their employees. Present research has mainly focused on quantitatively relating specific types of leadership behaviours to positive or negative new venture performance outcomes while neglecting to understand how the new venture context influences the initial choices of entrepreneurs to lead in a certain way.

To close this research gap, this study examined the leadership behaviour of start-up founder-CEOs and the reasons for the practised styles through qualitative research. Transcripts of semi-structured interviews with 17 entrepreneurs who obtain the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) position in their start-ups were analysed using narrative interpretation. The study was conducted over a period of three months and sought to identify the participants’ leadership behaviour by asking them specific indirect and direct questions that would reveal patterns of their leadership behaviour. The entrepreneurs’ leadership behaviour was then examined across the dimensions of vertical and shared leadership before identifying transactional, transformational as well as empowering and directive behaviours.

With the findings of this study, it is hoped that scholars, students as well as professionals can gain a better understanding of leadership practices in start-ups and why shared and empowering leadership behaviours are predominant. For future research, the results of this study highlight the importance of qualitatively examining entrepreneurs’ leadership behaviour as well as further investigating the relationship between the new venture context and the demonstrated leadership behaviours.