Overcoming internal barriers to new venture growth: The role of employee motivations

A major internal barrier to new venture growth is employee effort that diminishes with expansion of the venture’s workforce. This paper advances entrepreneurial growth theory by exploring conceptually how management measures that leverage three distinct employee motivations – extrinsic, intrinsic, and prosocial – affect this barrier. I argue that “agency measures” which leverage employees’ extrinsic motivations likely lose their effectiveness as firms grow; in contrast, measures that leverage employees’ prosocial motivations are better placed to overcome the internal growth barrier and spur ongoing new venture growth.