Corruption and Entrepreneurial Firm Performance: The Role of Entrepreneurs' Mindset and Social Capital (WITHDRAWN)

In this study, we suggests that the effect of corruption on entrepreneurial firm performance is conditioned on entrepreneurs' characteristics: mindset and social capital. It is argued that entrepreneurs with a transactional mindset and more social capital tend to navigate through the corrupt environment more effectively and secure resources from their networks with government to benefit their firms. Using proprietary data of corruption and entrepreneurs from China, our hypotheses receives support from preliminary analysis. Our study bridges the institutional and the individual perspectives of entrepreneurship and offers a more comprehensive framework for explaining how corruption influences entrepreneurial firm performance. We also contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by emphasizing entrepreneurs' early life experiences.