The founder's curse: the stronger the founder, the weaker the organization

The research question of the paper deals with the interplay between conformist and non-conformist members in charismatic organizations. The focus is on a special form of “resources curse”, which affects organizations with a strong and talented founder. The curse arises because the funder, in order to maximize the organization's efficiency in the first period, tends to select and reward conformist members and, consequently, discourages non-conformist and creative ones. Such a human resources policy works in the first period by fostering huge growth in the organization, but becomes a poverty trap in the period after the foundation, during which creative members would have been highly valuable in continuing the organization; however they are no longer there. The stronger and charismatic the founder, the weaker the organization in its second generation.