The “key” to moving on: a frame analysis of entrepreneurs’ venture-failure narratives for public audiences

Venture-failure is a common experience for many entrepreneurs, but the strategies they adopt in framing venture-failure narratives to public audiences is not well studied. Addressing this knowledge gap, the study examines how entrepreneurs construct stories that stimulate responses from public audiences during the ‘moving on’ phase. Our analysis of 91 failure blog posts shows how entrepreneurs use framing mechanisms referred to as ‘keyings’ that layer together literal interpretations and re-interpretations of failure. Moreover, we show how the layering of distinctly different primary and secondary keyings shape the tone of venture-failure narratives and stimulate legitimacy signals from audiences to try again. Our study advances the entrepreneurial failure literature by elaborating how failure narratives engage broad public audiences and why these matter as entrepreneurs move on to their next venture. We argue that keyings underpin these efforts by supporting integrative and dynamic presentations of failure to public audiences.