To Be Happy: A Case Study of Entrepreneurial Motivation and Entrepreneurial Process from the Perspective of Positive Psychology

Abstract

The pursuit of wealth maximization is considered to be the greatest driving force of entrepreneurship. However, this economic rational perspective cannot sufficiently answer why potential or continuous entrepreneurs still choose entrepreneurship or even continuous entrepreneurship in the face of high failure rate and tremendous uncertainty. On the basis of the dynamic process of entrepreneurship and the perspective of positive psychology, this study attempts to interpret the sustained motivation mechanism of entrepreneurs. This study uses multiple cases to investigate the emotion, cognition, and behavior of entrepreneurial process. Through NVivo software and emotion dictionary, more than 27,000 micro blogs (Weibo) of six entrepreneurs were analyzed, and the model of positive emotion in entrepreneurial process was constructed. The findings are as follows. (1) In the process of establishing a business, entrepreneurs can persist in a highly uncertain environment by acquiring positive emotions. That is, the motivation of sustainable entrepreneurship originates from the emotion of happiness and satisfaction that entrepreneurs obtain. (2) Positive emotions affect the formation and expansion of key activities of entrepreneurship through cognition and then persist with entrepreneurship. Specifically, positive emotion promotes the formation of entrepreneurial intention by expanding cognitive structure, intuitive processing, and analytical processing to promote the acquisition of entrepreneurial resources and the expansion of entrepreneurial ability. (3) In the process of entrepreneurship, emotional return is a performance dimension parallel to economic return. This conclusion provides a new perspective towards revealing the entrepreneurial motivation of entrepreneurs in highly ambiguous environments.

A Scientometric Systematic Review of Entrepreneurial Wellbeing Knowledge Production

“…The study of Mahadea and Ramroop (2015) also found that, on average, happier people tended to be educated, married with children, and treated fairly at work. But having too many children produced reduced individual happiness, On the other hand, other studies that seek to understand the entrepreneurial process and its relationship with happiness, such as those by Su et al (2020), have found findings where entrepreneurs in the process of establishing a company can persist in an uncertain environment, acquiring positive emotions. That is to say, the motivation for the sustainability of entrepreneurship originates from both the emotion of happiness and satisfaction from the very act of undertaking the entrepreneurship process, and emotional return is a performance dimension parallel to economic profitability.…”

Analysis of Entrepreneurial Motivation on Entrepreneurial Psychology in the Context of Transition Economy

“…As the research goes deeper, more researchers have noted other aspects of entrepreneurial motivation, analyzing how various factors affect entrepreneurial motivation from psychology. Su et al (2020) investigated the information in the social accounts of six entrepreneurs and explored the interaction between positive emotions and entrepreneurial motivation. Results suggested that positive emotions could affect entrepreneurial motivation and entrepreneurial process of entrepreneurs significantly.…”

The Linkage of Entrepreneurial Motivation on Marketing Performance SME's in Covid-19

“…the perceived net desire of entrepreneurs (NDSE), perceived self-efficacy (SE), and tolerance for risk (TR). Su et al (2020) explores the interaction between positive emotions and entrepreneurial motivation. The results showed that positive emotions significantly affect on entrepreneurship motivation and the entrepreneurial process of entrepreneurs.…”