While prior research has examined how returnee entrepreneurs influence firm strategies and operational performance, this study adopts the stakeholder view of upper echelons to addresses an understudied issue that how financial market evaluate ventures led by returnee entrepreneurs compared to their local counterparts. Building on temporal orientation research, we propose that returnee-led ventures perform more favorably in financial market compared with local-led ventures in industries relying on long-term performance over immediate profitability. Long-term orientation, reshaped by the international experience in advanced market economies through secondary socialization, serves as a mediating mechanism in the positive relationship between returnee entrepreneurs and financial market favorability. We further identify gender stereotypes as a boundary condition that attenuates the positive relationship. Evidence from technology-intensive ventures listed on China’s STAR Market support our hypothesized relationships. Shedding light on the “market-operational performance puzzle”, this study contributes to the returnee entrepreneur literature by identifying a temporal orientation mechanism of executives in external investor’s venture valuation.
