How Affect Relates to Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Research Agenda

Abstract

The study of how affect relates to entrepreneurship has become a relevant topic of research in recent years. Unfortunately, such rapid developments have led to theoretical inconsistencies and empirical gaps that could result in an incomplete understanding of entrepreneurship's affective dimensions. To address these issues and motivate future work, the authors conducted a systematic review of 65 articles on the role of affect in entrepreneurship. The results show that research has focused on the valence facet of affect, has paid little attention to affect's role beyond the individual level of analysis, and has devoted more attention to the consequences of affect than to its antecedents. The results also show that unbalanced attention has been paid to affect's role in different stages of the entrepreneurial process. Building on these analyses, the authors propose a research agenda that not only encourages investigations of previously overlooked topics and facets of affect, but also stresses the potential of examining competing cognitive and non‐cognitive arguments relating to affect's role. The authors also encourage future investigations of affect's role across levels of analysis and stages of the entrepreneurial process.

The influence of anticipated regret on business start-up behaviour

“…First, by adding a regret regulation perspective to the emerging body of literature on negative entrepreneurial emotions (Delgado-García et al, 2015;Doern and Goss, 2014), this study enriches our understanding of whether and how negative emotions such as anticipated regret lead to subsequent behavioural regulation in the transition from plans to actions. Hence, we also respond to the call for process views raised in entrepreneurship research on the role of negative emotions (Cardon et al, 2012;Delgado-García et al, 2015). Second, by introducing anticipated regret as a predictor of start-up behaviour, the study extends previous cognition-focused explanations of the origins of becoming an entrepreneur.…”

“…Recent research argues that entrepreneurship is an emotional journey (Baron, 2008;Cardon et al, 2012;Doern and Goss, 2013;Shepherd et al, 2014), suggesting that emotions might be one factor contributing to a plan being turned into action or not as the case may be. Specifically, emotions exert strong effects on behaviour in environments that are uncertain and characterized by high task complexity (Baron, 2008;Delgado-García et al, 2015); which is a condition typical of new venture creation (Dalborg and Wincent, 2015). However, the majority of research on entrepreneurial emotions thus far, deals with either early-stage identification of opportunities (Foo, 2011;Hayton and Cholakova, 2012) or late-stage venture cessation (Shepherd, 2003;Shepherd et al, 2009), whereas we know relatively little about the role played by emotions in the transition from latent to nascent entrepreneurship (Delgado-García et al, 2015).…”

“…Specifically, emotions exert strong effects on behaviour in environments that are uncertain and characterized by high task complexity (Baron, 2008;Delgado-García et al, 2015); which is a condition typical of new venture creation (Dalborg and Wincent, 2015). However, the majority of research on entrepreneurial emotions thus far, deals with either early-stage identification of opportunities (Foo, 2011;Hayton and Cholakova, 2012) or late-stage venture cessation (Shepherd, 2003;Shepherd et al, 2009), whereas we know relatively little about the role played by emotions in the transition from latent to nascent entrepreneurship (Delgado-García et al, 2015). To the best of our knowledge, the only study that directly addresses this niche is that of Van Gelderen et al (2015), which investigates the role of action-level emotions (fear, doubt and aversion) in the process of transforming start-up intentions into actions.…”

Mapping the field: a bibliometric analysis of the literature on university–industry collaborations

“…Specifically, U-I research appears to not coherently establish connections between previously adopted theoretical understandings and empirical models, hindering the visibility of clear directions for coherent future research. Therefore, U-I researchers run the risk of duplicating empirical findings while leaving knowledge gaps in other areas (Delgado García et al 2015;Gerbin and Drnovsek 2016). Consequently, a coherent analysis of the evolution of the U-I collaboration research and a reflection against current thematic areas and emerging patterns are needed (Diez-Vial and Montoro-Sanchez 2017; Minguillo et al 2015;Teixeira and Mota 2012).…”

Competence modelling for export performance improvement in Ethiopia

“…Delgado-García et al, 2015;De Clercq et al, 2012;Jones et al, 2011). First, we formulated search terms based on the study's three main concepts: competence, international business, and export (including synonyms derived from literature and Merriam-Webster's Online Thesaurus).…”