The Politics of Angels

In this paper we examine how an angel investor's political ideology shapes their entrepreneurial investment decisions. Integrating insights from research on entrepreneurial financing and political ideology we suggest that an investors personal perceptions, attributions, and in turn, emotional appraisals are shaped by personal political ideology. We develop and test our hypothesis using survey and archival data on the ideologies and behaviors of angel investors in the United States. Our results suggest that political ideology is a significant predictor of an angel's co-investment relationships, investment criteria, and portfolio performance.