The influence of entrepreneurial teams’ structural power inequality on firm performance

In this research article, we investigate how structural power inequality within entrepreneurial teams influences firm performance. We argue that very high and very low levels of structural power inequality undermine cooperation and communication within the team and therefore inhibit the efficient deployment of entrepreneurial team members’ resources. We find evidence for an inverted U-shaped relationship between structural power inequality and firm performance. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of social ties and find that the inverted U-relationship becomes stronger in the presence of co-worker ties and weaker in the presence of family ties. These results provide important contributions for research on power in organizations and entrepreneurship.