Does Congruence with an Entrepreneur Social Identity Encourage Positive Emotion Under Environmental Dynamism?

Abstract

Entrepreneurial identities and emotions can have profound effects on entrepreneurs. We examine how positive emotion (PE) among entrepreneurs may be influenced by the congruence they experience between their self-concept and the entrepreneur social identity. Given that uncertainty in the business environment can exert powerful effects throughout the entrepreneurial process, we further test the moderating impact of environmental dynamism on the relationship between identity congruence and PE. Results from a study of 175 entrepreneurs indicate that entrepreneurs experiencing greater congruence have higher levels of PE, and that this relationship is stronger in more dynamic environments.

Entrepreneurial passion and a firm’s innovation strategies

“…The displays of passion and identity by an entrepreneur are found to interact to influence the contagion of passion to their employees (Hubner, Baum, and Frese 2019). While the recent identity literature in entrepreneurship has highlighted not only an entrepreneur's self-identity but also their social identity (Fauchart and Gruber 2011;Sieger et al 2016;Murnieks, McMullen, and Cardon 2019), there is little research into how an entrepreneur's social identity interacts with their passion to influence their firm's activities.…”

Passion and Performance in Entrepreneurial Contexts: An Interest-based Approach

“…Research shows that entrepreneurs hold several relevant micro-identities that evolve differently across individuals and contexts, and most notably, micro-identities can be synergetic or conflicting (Hoang & Gimeno, 2010;Yitshaki & Kropp, 2016). Two harmonious passions do not result in conflict but create new opportunities for personal development (Schellenberg, Gaudreau, & Crocker, 2013), and entrepreneurs who experience greater alignment show higher levels of positive emotion (Murnieks, McMullen, & Cardon, 2017). Consequently, the alignment of identity aspects such as interests, activities and goals increase the degree of PEC.…”

Exploring founder identity tension, resolution, and venture pursuit

“…An entrepreneurial role identity refers to the sets of attributes that are associated with the role, the tasks carried out to perform it, how the entrepreneur perceives this performance, and the importance of the role compared to other roles (Hoang & Gimeno, 2015;Morris et al, 2018). Role performance can evoke positive affect, which in turn can encourage certain behaviors (Cardon et al, 2009;Murnieks et al, 2019Murnieks et al, , 2014. Passion for producing craft beers, for example, can lead to the intention to start a microbrewery (Biraglia & Kadile, 2017).…”