The idea is not enough: The role of self-efficacy in mediating the relationship between pull entrepreneurship and founder passion – a research note

Abstract

This research note demonstrates that self-efficacy is important for understanding why an attractive idea may lead an entrepreneur to develop passion. Drawing upon a survey of 103 respondents, we find that self-efficacy mediates the influence of pull entrepreneurship on founder passion suggesting that being pulled toward opportunities to start a business is not directly required for entrepreneurial passion to develop. Instead, pull entrepreneurship increases self-efficacy and assists the individual to develop the skills typical of an entrepreneur. This instills individual self-efficacy beliefs, which in turn are prerequisites for passion to grow. As such, this research uncovers a skill-based explanation of how founder passion develops.

Perceiving ‘capability’ within dynamic capabilities: The role of owner-manager self-efficacy

“…Extant studies into perceived self-efficacy in the entrepreneurship domain have largely focussed on either or both of two areas: first, factors that influence self-efficacy, such as counterfactual thinking (Arora, Haynie and Laurence, 2013), elements of strategic decision making processes (Forbes, 2005), business planning activities (McCann and Vroom, 2015), entrepreneurship education (Sánchez, 2013;Zhao, Seibert and Hills, 2005), pull entrepreneurship (Dalborg and Wincent, 2015), gender (Wilson, Kickul and Marlino, 2007), and national culture (Shneor, Camgöz and Karapinar, 2013). The second area focuses upon effects of selfefficacy; for example: the influence self-efficacy may have upon an individual's intention to become an entrepreneur (Bacq, Ofstein, Kickul and Gundry, 2016;Lanero, Vázquez and Aza, 2015), entrepreneurial orientation (Poon, Ainuddin and Haji Junit, 2006), and entrepreneurial passion (Dalborg and Wincent, 2015).…”

“…The second area focuses upon effects of selfefficacy; for example: the influence self-efficacy may have upon an individual's intention to become an entrepreneur (Bacq, Ofstein, Kickul and Gundry, 2016;Lanero, Vázquez and Aza, 2015), entrepreneurial orientation (Poon, Ainuddin and Haji Junit, 2006), and entrepreneurial passion (Dalborg and Wincent, 2015).…”

The influence of anticipated regret on business start-up behaviour

“…Hence, engaging in business gestation activities is a demanding endeavour (Dalborg and Wincent, 2015;Hjorth et al, 2015) in which a variety of cognitive and emotional factors play a role (Delmar and Davidsson, 2000;Frese and Gielnik, 2014). Engaging in nascent entrepreneurship can also be considered a socially important behaviour.…”

“…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).…”

The role of creativity in mediating the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial alertness

“…In order to test hypothesis 3 that creativity is an intermediate variable in the existing link between entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial alertness, this study followed the work of Baron and Kenny (1986) along with Preacher and Hayes (2008) which were used in previous studies on entrepreneurship (e.g., Baron & Tang, 2011;Dalborg & Wincent, 2015;Welpe, Spörrle, Grichnik, Michl, & Audretsch, 2012). According to these authors, a variable's mediation must meet three conditions: 1.…”