TY - JOUR U1 - Zeitschriftenartikel, wissenschaftlich - begutachtet (reviewed) A1 - Garidis, Konstantin A1 - Rossmann, Alexander T1 - A framework for cooperation behavior of start-ups : developing a multi-item scale and its performance impacts JF - Journal of small business & enterprise development N2 - Purpose – Many start-ups are in search of cooperation partners to develop their innovative business models. In response, incumbent firms are introducing increasingly more cooperation systems to engage with startups. However, many of these cooperations end in failure. Although qualitative studies on cooperation models have tried to improve the effectiveness of incumbent start-up strategies, only a few have empirically examined start-up cooperation behavior. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from a series of qualitative and quantitative studies. The scale dimensions are identified on an interview based qualitative study. Following workshops and questionnaire-based studies identify factors and rank them. These ranked factors are then used to build a measurement scale that is integrated in a standardized online questionnaire addressing start-ups. The gathered data are then analyzed using PLS-SEM. Findings – The research was able to build a multi-item scale for start-ups cooperation behavior. This scale can be used in future research. The paper also provides a causal analysis on the impact of cooperation behavior on start-up performance. The research finds, that the found dimensions are suitable for measuring cooperation behavior. It also shows a minor positive effect on start-up’s performance. Originality/value – The research fills the gap of lacking empirical research on the cooperation between start-ups and established firms. Also, most past studies focus on organizational structures and their performance when addressing these cooperations. Although past studies identified the start-ups behavior as a relevant factor, no empirical research has been conducted on the topic yet. KW - ecosystem KW - digital innovation KW - cooperation behaviour KW - corporate start-up KW - start-up cooperation KW - start-up performance Y1 - 2019 SN - 1462-6004 SS - 1462-6004 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-04-2019-0125 DO - https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-04-2019-0125 VL - 26 IS - 6/7 SP - 877 EP - 890 S1 - 14 PB - Emerald CY - Bingley ER -