A Methodological Guide for Quantitative Analysis of Star Performance in Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice · 2026 · Volume 50 · Issue 3
DOI: 10.1177/10422587251388034
Abstract
Entrepreneurial performance is often right-skewed and heavy-tailed, yet empirical studies typically focus on average outcomes, assuming normality. Recent research addresses this by examining full performance distributions. We extend this work by introducing an intuitive framework with three distinct characteristics of distributional tails: (a) tail impact, the contribution of star performers relative to the rest; (b) tail extremity, the extent by which the highest performer exceeds the typical performer; and (c) tail frequency, the fraction of performers who are stars. We outline a methodological guide, offer illustrative examples, and provide R code to enrich future investigations of star performance in entrepreneurship.
Keywords
star entrepreneurs, star performers, outliers, right-skewed and heavy-tailed performance distributions, distributional shapes and tail characteristics
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