Entrepreneurial Team Heterogeneity-Task Fit and Its Link to Decision Making Conflict and New Venture Performance

This paper presents data on the composition of the Top Management Teams (TMTs) of 88 high growth firms. It is the intent of this research to understand the effect of team composition on the performance of these new ventures. The findings suggest that TMT heterogeneity has negative direct effects on new venture performance. It was our objective, however, to understand the ramifications of heterogeneity in the context of two potential continency variables, environmental volatility and team tenure. The contextual findings suggest that new ventures in more volatile task environments need a TMT with a more diverse set of skills. Team tenure, however, was not found to have its expected effect.