Passion as process: Three perspectives on entrepreneurial passion and an integrated path forward

Business failure and entrepreneur experiences of passion

“…identifying and exploiting new opportunities) or with the specific firm. Our study focus (see Figure 1 below) responds to Schwarte et al's. (2023) call for research exploring the expression of EP (particularly the expression of harmonious and OP), towards specific activities, and the way in which identity influences the display of EP.…”

“…Research on EP has developed and grown in recent years primarily through the work of Melissa Cardon [see Cardon et al (2005Cardon et al ( , 2009Cardon et al ( , 2013; Cardon (2008); and Cardon and Kirk, 2015)]. There is an expanding body of research proposing a link between passion and identity (Cardon et al, 2009; de Mol et al, 2020;Laskovaia et al, 2022;Murnieks et al, 2014Murnieks et al, , 2020Schwarte et al, 2023;Vallerand, 2008); yet, the ways in which passion and identity affect entrepreneurial actions remain underexplored (Schwarte et al, 2023). Identity research in the entrepreneurship field largely focuses on role identities -inventor, founder and developer.…”

“…Passion encourages persistence even amidst obstacles (Cardon and Kirk, 2015), and it is considered one of the most observed phenomena of the entrepreneurial process (Smilor, 1997). While EP has been the subject of increased empirical attention in recent years, Schwarte et al (2023: 10) posit the need to ‘develop a deeper understanding of EP display by incorporating different entrepreneurial role identities’. Furthermore, despite EP now being a burgeoning field of research, little is known about the influence that EP has on venture outcomes (Adomako et al, 2023).…”

“…Scholars have called for further research on EP (Cardon et al, 2009; Lee and Herrmann, 2021; Murnieks et al, 2014; Newman et al, 2021). Specifically, Schwarte et al (2023: 12) call for research exploring ‘the different displays of harmonious and obsessive passion’. Furthermore, while there is a prevailing assumption that passion in entrepreneurship is largely functional, there is emerging evidence that passion in entrepreneurship may in fact be dysfunctional (de Mol et al, 2020).…”

“…We delineate between process-focused identification and firm-focused identification for regenerative entrepreneurs (Walsh and Cunningham, 2017). Accordingly, we illustrate how identity and identification influence the display of EP in direct response to recent calls from Schwarte et al (2023) to explore the expression of EP and the role of identity.…”