Abstract

Purpose - There have been many studies regarding the preceding factors required for success of start-up. The purpose of this study is to verify one of the paths by which the individual characteristics of founders and governmental support lead to enhanced start-up performance, via entrepreneurship and network building. Research design, data, methodology - Data for this study was collected from surveys of 332 founders throughout South Korea, and statistical analyses of this data were performed using SPSS 22.0 and Smart PLS 2.0. To verify our hypothesis, path analysis was performed using a structural equation model. Results -The variables, entrepreneurial self-esteem and experience were found to have positive effects on the entrepreneurship and networks. Secondly, governmental support did not have significant positive effect on entrepreneurship, but it did have positive effect on networking. Thirdly, entrepreneurship and networking were confirmed to have positive effects on both the utilization of opportunities and financial performance, which are variables indicating start-up performance. Conclusion - Although founder's characteristics are important for success of start-up, it is also critically important to actively utilize governmental support. Notably, many founders suffer from inadequate networks. They would be able to enhance their start-up performance by utilizing various governmental support programs to reinforce their network capabilities.