TY - GEN A1 - Mochkabadi, Kazem A1 - Kleinert, Simon A1 - Urbig, Diemo A1 - Volkmann, Christine T1 - From distinctiveness to optimal distinctiveness: External endorsements, innovativeness and new venture funding T2 - 26th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SMEs, 2023 N2 - To maximize their performance, new ventures should be optimally distinctive, that is, as differentiated from competitors as is legitimately possible. External endorsements, through affiliations with reputable third-parties, might alter the level of optimal distinctiveness for new ventures among different resource-providing audiences. To develop and test this prediction, the authors study new ventures with varying degrees of innovativeness that seek funding from return- and novelty-seeking resource providers. The former expect some distinctiveness but reject too little or too much (e.g., non- or radically innovative new ventures). External endorsements can buffer the legitimacy of these non-innovative and radically innovative ventures, but they lead to different performance implications. For non-innovative ventures, external endorsements function as a shield against low legitimacy, so they are less penalized for their lack of novelty. For radically innovative ventures, external endorsements function as a performance booster; they can become even optimally distinctive and outperform other distinctiveness configurations. In contrast, novelty-seeking audiences already have a higher tolerance for more innovative new ventures, so these effects are less pronounced among these resource providers. Four empirical studies, using observational data and experiments in equity and reward-based crowdfunding, provide strong support for this theory and account for several alternative explanations. In turn, this study sheds new light on the crucial, audience-specific function of external endorsements, namely, as a means to alter optimal distinctiveness levels. KW - Entrepreneurship KW - Finance KW - Crowdfunding KW - Optimal distinctiveness KW - Legitimacy KW - Platform Y1 - 2024 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-UBICO/frontdoor/index/index/docId/33041 UR - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379155882 UR - https://www.fgf-ev.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/G-Forum-2023-Programmgeruest_18-09-2023_Internet.pdf ER -