UC Irvine

Human capital is a critical resource for entrepreneurial organizations. Yet, prior research has focused largely on founders' individual characteristics, leaving less understood about how ventures build and sustain human capital through the people they hire and retain. This dissertation examines this question across three studies of the acquisition, evaluation, and retention of human capital in entrepreneurial ventures. Chapter 1 shows that women-led ventures experience higher employee turnover than men-led ventures, driven by gendered perceptions of founder legitimacy, with implications for growth outcomes such as IPO likelihood. Chapter 2 shows that generalist hiring increases IPO likelihood when new hires resemble the venture's existing human capital base, conceptualizing human capital as an evolving organizational resource. Chapter 3 shows that generalists are more likely to enter the initial hiring consideration set, while specialists are more likely to receive final offers, when evaluation shifts toward depth and commitment. Together, these studies show that human capital creates value not through what individuals possess alone, but through how it is evaluated, integrated, and retained.