Creative and resourceful: How human, social, and psychological resources affect creative workers’ ability to rebound after failure

In this research, we use the resource-based view to explore how creative workers leverage individual-level intangible resources to transition after a setback. Empirically, we match two complementary data sources: 1474 project failures by creative workers seeking capital on Kickstarter.​com and post-failure market transitions by these individuals (i.e., published works on Amazon.​com). Our results indicate that intangible human resources increase the likelihood and speed of post-failure transitions. We examine two moderating effects and find that intangible social resources strengthen this relationship, while intangible psychological resources weaken this relationship. These findings contribute to the emerging literature on creative work and transitioning after initial project failures. Moreover, resource-based view scholars have called for more research at the micro-level and in the early stages of resourcing. We therefore extend the resource-based view by considering the role of individual-level intangible resources at the earliest stages of creative development.