Seminar（Dept. of Trade Economics）

Theme：Disclose or disguise? Identities of individual entrepreneurs on digital platforms

Speaker：Sali Li (Professor of the Sonoco International Business Department at the Darla Moore School of Business)

Time：2022-09-27 09:00

Address：Online Meeting

Language：English

Abstract：

This paper studies the role of individual entrepreneurs’ digital identities in determining their success on digital platforms. We argue that individual entrepreneurs’ identities on digital platforms are composed of social and virtual dimensions through which they can represent themselves to their stakeholders. Particularly, social dimension represents the real facial appearance, which connects the online persona with the society. Virtual dimension reflects how the individual entrepreneur utilizes social media to interact with stakeholders. We further argue that both social and virtual dimensions of individual entrepreneurs’ digital identities may contribute to the success of individual entrepreneurs, but their effects may vary in different institutional environments. By tracking 405 newly launched YouTube Channels, we find that social dimension is more effective in target countries with low network readiness whereas virtual dimension is more effective in target countries with high network readiness. These findings deepen entrepreneurship research by revealing the role of individual entrepreneurs' digital identities for success on digital platforms.

Short biography：

Sali Li is Professor and Research Fellow at the Sonoco International Business Department at the Darla Moore School of Business. He received his PhD in strategic management from University of Utah. His research interests include multinational strategy, market entry, user demand side perspective, and international entrepreneurship, with particular focus on emerging economies. His research was awarded the Rugman Prize by the Academy of International Business and the GWU-CIBER Best Paper Award on Emerging Markets at Academy of Management. In addition, Professor Li's research has been published in leading scholarly journals, including the Journal of Management, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Organization Science, and Global Strategy Journal. In addition, he also serves as associate editor of Journal of Management and Journal of World Business.