Failure learning and entrepreneurial resilience: the moderating role of firms’ knowledge breadth and knowledge depth

Purpose Drawing on the knowledge-based view, the purpose of this study is to investigate the differential effects of failure normalization (FN) and failure analysis (FA) on entrepreneurial resilience (ER) and examines how firms’ knowledge breadth (KB) and knowledge depth (KD) moderate these effects in distinctive ways. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a mixed-methods approach, including a two-wave survey study among 226 entrepreneurial high-tech firms in China and a qualitative study. Findings The findings reveal that FA has a stronger positive effect on ER than FN. KB enhances the effect of FA on ER, whereas KD enhances the effect of FN on ER but buffers the effect of FA on ER. Practical implications The study advocates that entrepreneurs need to be aware of the importance of ER and strengthen the reflection on failure. Additionally, the study suggests that entrepreneurs should match FN and FA with firms’ knowledge characteristics. With this match, KB and KD can exert greater impacts on the effect of failure learning on ER. Originality/value Knowledge can influence the effect of learning on firm capability. However, such an effect in entrepreneurial firms linking to ER remains to be explored. This study contributes to ER from the failure learning perspective and extends knowledge management theory in the entrepreneurship context.