Empathy-driven entrepreneurial action: Well-being outcomes for entrepreneurs and target beneficiaries

Empathy is a primary driver of social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial action. However, empathizing individuals can arrive at different conclusions about what targets need. This variance in entrepreneurs' empathy for targets is important because it will help explain the type of interventions they initiate to help targets and the production of a range of benefits and costs for the targets and the entrepreneur. This study builds on and extends the theory of empathic interpersonal emotion regulation to construct an empathy-driven entrepreneurial-action model of well-being. We explore how an entrepreneur's empathy orientation for entrepreneurial action—the patterned way entrepreneurs focus their attention on a target's problems and then seek to enact this position through entrepreneurial action to help the target—shapes the organizing of an entrepreneurial intervention and the likely outcomes. We theorize entrepreneurial orientation of entrepreneurial action manifests as a hedonic paternalistic, counterhedonic, paternalistic, hedonic cooperative, or counter-hedonic cooperative. This empathy-driven entrepreneurial-action model of well-being contributes to the social entrepreneurship literature and inter-personal theories of empathy.     

Embedded entrepreneurship in the creative re-construction of place

This paper focuses on ways in which entrepreneurs engage with place and community. Drawing on the ideas of embeddedness and transferring value across spheres, we develop insight about how the relationship between entrepreneurs and communities influences entrepreneurial practices and outcomes. Employing an ethnographic perspective including participant observation, we explored the situated practices of entrepreneurs in two depleted communities in the Northwest of Ireland. We found that entrepreneurs not only drew on the community in running their business, but were also involved in a wide range of “other” activities that engaged, involved and worked with the community. This entrepreneurship produced a range of projects that addressed social and economic issues (unemployment, employability and emigration) and the depleted sense of place which was adversely affecting these communities. We show how social bonds and an affinity to community enable entrepreneurship to create, renew and reify a positive identity of place by combining understanding with entrepreneurial purpose.     

The dualistic regulatory effect of passion on the relationship between fear of failure and negative affect: Insights from facial expression analysis

Across two studies, we theorize and empirically investigate passion as a moderator of the negative affective consequences of fear of failure in early-stage entrepreneurship. We test our hypotheses in two field studies of naturally occurring affective events—namely, pitching competitions—and we complement self-reported measures of negative affect with physio-psychological measures obtained from analyzing entrepreneurs' facial expressions. The results confirm that in failure-relevant situations, dispositional fear of failure may lead to higher negative affect depending on the dualistic regulatory effect of passion—harmonious passion dampens the influence of fear of failure on negative affect (Studies 1 and 2), while obsessive passion magnifies this effect in Study 1 but dampens it in Study 2, thus showing mixed evidence. Our work is one of the first to investigate how early-stage entrepreneurs experience negative affect during typical entrepreneurial events as a result of their dispositional traits and their type and level of passion.     

Navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurial identity threats to persist: The countervailing force of a relational identity with God

While an economic paradigm has been productive for entrepreneurship, religion has been proposed as an alternative rationality to advance research in our field. To extend a theological turn in entrepreneurship and identity research, our study inductively develops a conceptual model that explains how individuals navigate entrepreneurial identity threats based on the interaction between a relational identity with God (RIG) and an entrepreneurial identity to persist in entrepreneurial action. Our study suggests this can happen when entrepreneurs engage in inter-identity work mechanisms - affirming and humbling - to mitigate these identity threats. Specifically, a relational identity with God acts as a countervailing force to an entrepreneurial identity during times of identity threats to generate inter-identity meaning change, resulting in interidentity stability and entrepreneurial persistence. Through our study, we advance knowledge on the theological turn in entrepreneurship and identity by inductively developing theory on a new religious identity construct (RIG), elaborating theory of inter-identity work by shifting the focus from structural to content changes, and extending theory on entrepreneurial action, persistence, and well-being based on theological rather than economic considerations.     

Can prosocial motivation harm entrepreneurs' subjective well-being?

Entrepreneurship research on prosocial motivation has outlined its positive impact on well-being, but still little is known about its power, which may have deleterious personal consequences under certain conditions. In this study, we ask whether prosocial motivation can harm entrepreneurs' subjective well-being when they run a commercial venture. Embedded within a contingency perspective informed by self-determination theory, we build on longitudinal survey data to explain the effect of prosocial motivation on entrepreneurs' overall life satisfaction. Our analysis demonstrates that prosocial motivation has a negative effect on entrepreneurs' life satisfaction due to increased levels of stress. However, our findings show that the negative effect of prosocial motivation dissipates when perceived autonomy at work is high compared to when it is low. Overall, our research raises questions on the role of prosocial motivation for entrepreneurs' subjective well-being and, in particular, discusses its potential “dark side” in the context of commercial entrepreneurship.Executive summaryCan there be a “dark side” in helping others? If so, how can we better understand under what conditions it emerges? Entrepreneurship research conventionally presents prosocial motivation as a positive driver for social venture creation and entrepreneurs' well-being. However, we have little knowledge about the consequences of prosocial motivation when we move outside the social entrepreneurship context. When prosocially motivated entrepreneurs lead a commercial venture, they face the difficult task of balancing the desire to help others with the financial requirements of the business. The challenge of simultaneously accomplishing commercial and prosocial goals can result in a stressful experience that is detrimental to the entrepreneur's well-being. In this study, we ask whether and under what circumstances prosocial motivation can harm entrepreneurs' well-being.Embedded in a contingency perspective informed by self-determination theory, this article expands our knowledge on the effects of prosocial motivation in the context of commercial entrepreneurship. We draw from original longitudinal survey data on 186 entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom to demonstrate that prosocial motivation causes entrepreneurs stress and through that stress has a negative effect on their life satisfaction. We also show that the negative effect of prosocial motivation diminishes when the degree of autonomy entrepreneurs perceive in the pursuit of daily work tasks is high. To explore the uniqueness of the entrepreneurial context, we run a comparative analysis with a sample of 544 employees. This analysis confirms that stress fully mediates the negative relationship between prosocial motivation and subjective well-being, but for employees, this negative effect disappears when their level of intrinsic motivation—the desire to expend effort based on enjoyment of the work itself—is high.Building on our findings, we generate several important contributions. First, we help develop an understanding of the “dark side” of prosocial motivation by demonstrating that under certain circumstances, the desire to help others can be detrimental to entrepreneurs' subjective well-being. Second, we expand knowledge about the link between prosocial motivation and well-being by considering the boundary conditions (perceived autonomy and intrinsic motivation) that influence the dynamics of their relationship. Third, we set the stage for further investigations that aim to clarify the relationship between motivation and perceived autonomy and its effect on personal outcomes across different work domains.The key insight of the study is that prosocial motivation creates a dilemma for entrepreneurs when operating a commercial business such that the desire to help others outside the context of immediate work tasks can harm their personal well-being. We also find that the perception of autonomy is key for commercial entrepreneurs to be able to realize their prosocial motivation without creating stressful situations. Extending our understanding of the conditions that shape the relationship between prosocial motivation and well-being among entrepreneurs would help in developing a more holistic notion of prosocial business venturing, one that includes the role of both commercial and social enterprising activities in contributing to personal and societal well-being.     

Habitual entrepreneurs: Possible cases of entrepreneurship addiction?

We examine the underlying psychological processes that may motivate habitual entrepreneurs to engage in entrepreneurship repeatedly. By drawing on the psychology literature on behavioral addictions, such as workaholism and Internet use, we develop a framework that defines the symptomatology of what we identify as a “behavioral addiction to entrepreneurship.” Through interviews with two habitual entrepreneurs, we demonstrate how these addiction symptoms manifest in the entrepreneurial context. We also demonstrate how psychological, emotional, and physiological aspects of the entrepreneurial experience reinforce a behavioral addiction to entrepreneurship. Our theorizing offers insights into the psychological origins of repeated engagement in venture creation activities and yields insights into possible “dark side” of entrepreneurship outcomes.     

Machines augmenting entrepreneurs: Opportunities (and threats) at the Nexus of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to machines that are trained to perform tasks associated with human intelligence, interpret external data, learn from that external data, and use that learning to flexibly adapt to tasks to achieve specific outcomes. This paper briefly explains AI and looks into the future to highlight some of AI's broader and longer-term societal implications. We propose that AI can be combined with entrepreneurship to represent a super tool. Scholars can research the nexus of AI and entrepreneurship to explore the possibilities of this potential AI-entrepreneurship super tool and hopefully direct its use to productive processes and outcomes. We focus on specific entrepreneurship topics that benefit from AI's augmentation potential and acknowledge implications for entrepreneurship's dark side. We hope this paper stimulates future research at the AI-entrepreneurship nexus.Executive summaryArtificial intelligence (AI) refers to machines that are trained to perform tasks associated with human intelligence, interpret external data, learn from that external data, and use that learning to flexibly adapt to tasks to achieve specific outcomes. Machine learning is the most common form of AI and largely relies on supervised learning—when the machine (i.e., AI) is trained with labels applied by humans. Deep learning and adversarial learning involve training on unlabeled data, or when the machine (via its algorithms) clusters data to reveal underlying patterns.AI is simply a tool. Entrepreneurship is also simply a tool. How they are combined and used will determine their impact on humanity. While researchers have independently developed a greater understanding of entrepreneurship and AI, these two streams of research have primarily run in parallel. To indicate the scope of current and future AI, we provide examples of AI (at different levels of development) for four sectors—customer service, financial, healthcare, and tertiary education. Indeed, experts from industry research and consulting firms suggest many AI-related business opportunities for entrepreneurs to pursue.Further, we elaborate on several of these opportunities, including opportunities to (1) capitalize on the “feeling economy,” (2) redistribute occupational skills in the economy, (3) develop and use new governance mechanisms, (4) keep humans in the loop (i.e., humans as part of the decision making process), (5) expand the role of humans in developing AI systems, and (6) expand the purposes of AI as a tool. After discussing the range of business opportunities that experts suggest will prevail in the economy with AI, we discuss how entrepreneurs can use AI as a tool to help them increase their chances of entrepreneurial success. We focus on four up-and-coming areas for entrepreneurship research: a more interaction-based perspective of (potential) entrepreneurial opportunities, a more activities-based micro-foundation approach to entrepreneurial action, a more cognitively hot perspective of entrepreneurial decision making and action, and a more compassionate and prosocial role of entrepreneurial action. As we discuss each topic, we also suggest opportunities to design an AI system (i.e., entrepreneurs as potential AI designers) to help entrepreneurs (i.e., entrepreneurs as AI users).AI is an exciting development in the technology world. How it transforms markets and societies depends in large part on entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can use AI to augment their decisions and actions in pursuing potential opportunities for productive gains. Thus, we discuss entrepreneurs' most critical tasks in developing and managing AI and explore some of the dark-side aspects of AI. Scholars also have a role to play in how entrepreneurs use AI, but this role requires the hard work of theory building, theory elaboration, theory testing, and empirical theorizing. We offer some AI topics that we hope future entrepreneurship research will explore. We hope this paper encourages scholars to consider research at the nexus of AI and entrepreneurship.     

Rags to riches? Entrepreneurs' social classes,resourceful time allocation,and venture performance

Social classes shape entrepreneurial pursuits in that entrepreneurs from lower social class groups face more resource deficiencies compared to those from higher social class groups. In this study, we theorize that being resourceful with a particular resource—time—helps ventures run by lower-class entrepreneurs achieve better performance. However, we further argue that the extent to which entrepreneurs use time resourcefully is affected by the cognitive schemas stamped on them by their social class backgrounds. Our empirical analysis of 8663 Chinese private entrepreneurs between 2006 and 2010 lends robust support to these arguments. By revealing both material and cognitive constraints stemming from entrepreneurs' social classes, our study contributes to research on social classes and entrepreneurial resourcefulness and has important implications for understanding the persistence of inequality in entrepreneurship.     

Perceived social undermining keeps entrepreneurs up at night and disengaged the next day: The mediating role of sleep quality and the buffering role of trait resilience

Entrepreneurs work in an uncertain, novel, and high-stakes environment. This environment can lead to disagreements and conflicts over how to develop, grow, and run a business venture, thus triggering destructive social interactions. This research sheds light on the role of destructive interpersonal relationships by examining daily perceived social undermining from work partners and how and when this perceived undermining affects entrepreneurs' work engagement. Building on a resource-based self-regulation perspective, we develop a theoretical model of the self-regulation impairment process whereby an entrepreneur's perceived social undermining disrupts sleep quality at night, which dampens work engagement the next day. We further theorize trait resilience as a self-regulation capacity that buffers this impairment process. We test the model in a study based on daily surveys over 10 workdays from 77 entrepreneurs. The results largely support our hypotheses and further indicate that trait resilience is more crucial for less experienced entrepreneurs. Our study contributes to research on how entrepreneurs' interpersonal relationships—particularly destructive ones—affect entrepreneurial well-being.     

The Role of Trust in the Marketing Activities of Entrepreneurs Establishing New Ventures

The 'credibility gap' is not often cited as a problem by marketers; for this reason marketing texts pay little or no attention to it. Yet, for the entrepreneurial marketer it may well be the most fundamental marketing challenge. Addressing the credibility gap may not have received any previous research interest, but theoretical support for its relevance abounds. Risk and its corollary, making use of trust have been seen as quintessentially entrepreneurial activities. If they do epitomise entrepreneurship, then surely, studying how entrepreneurs use trust ought to provide valuable insights into what entrepreneurs do.

While there is increasing research into trust, particularly from an organisational behaviour perspective, there is none in an entrepreneurial context. This lack of research provides the reason for the exploratory nature of this investigation.

The search for trust in this investigation focuses on entrepreneurs' usage of elements of the marketing mix. Respondents are asked about what they have done, why they have taken that course of action and what the outcomes have been.

We find that there is a wide panoply of ways in which entrepreneurs use trust, for example 'enthusiasm' and 'shared values'. The latter two are particularly important because they can lead to trust in situations where there may not already be existing relationships (the most likely place for finding trust). We also identify the methods entrepreneurs use to build trust - which they can then use to mitigate customers' perception of risk.     

Exploring the role played by entrepreneurial self-efficacy among women entrepreneurs in tourism sector

This study aimed to explore how entrepreneurial self-efficacy impacts firms' performance among women entrepreneurs in developing countries in tourism and hospitality industry. Survey data collected from women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka confirmed entrepreneurial self-efficacy is influenced by social media, entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial role models, whereas education and work experience had no influence over entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The mediating behavior of entrepreneurial persistence behavior is confirmed. For entrepreneurship stakeholders, this research revealed a critical factor that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is influenced by social media in digital world of technologies. Moreover, this research provided a validated model of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, enhancing its usage during the adversity or growth stages of business while producing valuable insights to policy makers in developing countries, enhancing women entrepreneurs’ contribution to the economy.     

I can't get no sleep—The differential impact of entrepreneurial stressors on work-home interference and insomnia among experienced versus novice entrepreneurs

When founding and managing a new business, entrepreneurs are frequently confronted with stressors hampering their daily work. The present study examines how these entrepreneurial stressors affect two important interrelated indicators of entrepreneurs' recovery and well-being—that is, their ability to detach from work during non-work times (work-home interference) and their sleep (insomnia). We introduce prior entrepreneurial experience as an important moderator to these relationships, arguing that due to their different learning and coping experiences and their different interpretations of the entrepreneurial role, experienced versus novice entrepreneurs would react differently to entrepreneurial stressors. In an empirical study with 122 entrepreneurs, we found that among experienced entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial stressors primarily had a direct sleep-impairing effect. Among novice entrepreneurs, the same stressors primarily initiated an indirect effect by leading to increased work-home interference and consequently also increased insomnia. Overall, thus, our study shows that both novice and experienced entrepreneurs suffer from insomnia when encountering entrepreneurial stressors—however, the underlying mechanisms differ. Implications are discussed in terms of both theory and practice.     

From grassroots to international markets: A qualitative study of marginalized entrepreneurs in India

Much of the growing literature on international entrepreneurship focuses on how positive circumstances, such as having prior international experience, business networks, or formal institutions lead to international entrepreneurial action and overlooks the role more challenging circumstances might play. In this study, we extend and refine challenge-based entrepreneurship theory to explore what influences international entrepreneurial action undertaken by marginalized entrepreneurs in an emerging economy. Despite widening economic and social disparities in emerging economies, little is known about entrepreneurs who have traditionally been “left behind.” Our findings suggest that these marginalized entrepreneurs have not only a set of liabilities but also advantages, including creative problem solving and perseverance, as well as local knowledge and networks. To spur the first-person international opportunity belief associated with international entrepreneurial action, an intermediary with resources and networks is needed to offset the liabilities. These intermediaries act as gatekeepers, helping some marginalized entrepreneurs but holding back others.     

The community dynamics of entrepreneurship: The birth of the american film industry, 1895–1929

This paper provides insight for practitioners by exploring the collective process of entrepreneurship in the context of the formation of new industries. In contrast to the popular notions of entrepreneurship, with their emphasis on individual traits, we argue that successful entrepreneurship is often not solely the result of solitary individuals acting in isolation. In many respects, entrepreneurs exist as part of larger collectives. First and foremost, there is the population of organizations engaging in activities similar to those of the entrepreneurial firm, which constitute a social system that can affect entrepreneurial success. In addition, there is also a community of populations of organizations characterized by interdependence of outcomes. Individual entrepreneurs may be more successful in the venturing process if they recognize some of the ways in which their success may depend on the actions of entrepreneurs throughout this community. Thus, we urge practitioners and theorists alike to include a community perspective in their approach to entrepreneurship. We also suggest that one way of conceptualizing the community of relevance might be in terms of populations of organizations that constitute the value chain. For example, in the early film industry a simple value chain with three functions—production, distribution, and exhibition—is a convenient heuristic for considering what populations of organizations might be relevant. As we show in our case study of that industry, a community model offers insights into the collective nature of entrepreneurship and the emergence of new industries.Our basic thesis is that the role of entrepreneurship in the creation of new industries can be conceptualized in terms of the dynamics of a community of organizational populations. At least three implications of this view may be important for practitioners. First, the kind of widespread and fundamental economic and social change that has often been linked with entrepreneurship requires a variety of behaviors. While most definitions of entrepreneurship have recognized that entrepreneurship requires the introduction of innovation, they have tended to ignore the importance of behaviors that subsequently support that innovation. To encompass these important behaviors, we believe that a broad definition of entrepreneurial behaviors is justified. To capture this, the framework of entrepreneurial behaviors that we develop includes the variety of behaviors that are important to the success of a collective process of entrepreneurship. We believe that recognition of a variety of different behaviors that are important to the success of the entrepreneurial process can help practicing entrepreneurs to understand more fully the complex dynamics of new industry creation. In terms of our framework, the range of behaviors of potential importance to entrepreneurship includes all of the following: creating a firm that innovates, creating a new business that imitates the practices of others, innovating within an existing business, and imitating by creating change in an existing business. In addition, we recognize that the kinds of innovative change that support entrepreneurship in the context of new industry creation are not narrowly technological; other kinds of product and service changes as well as administrative innovations may also be relevant.Second, entrepreneurship in one part of the community often creates the opportunity for entrepreneurial activity elsewhere in the community. For example, the founding of movie palaces did not begin until feature length films appeared. The challenge for entrepreneurs is to recognize these opportunities and act on them. Third, and related, the long-term success of entrepreneurial behaviors in one population of the community frequently requires that supportive entrepreneurial behaviors occur in other populations in the community. For example, the success of feature length films was hastened by the development of distribution organizations to replace traveling shows and localized markets. Their success was also hastened by the movement away from nickelodeons towards larger, more comfortable exhibition outlets, such as theaters and show palaces. When the interdependence among populations in the community is stated this way, another challenge to entrepreneurs becomes clear: the facilitation and encouragement of supportive behaviors in other populations.We are not the first to propose that the community is important, but we contribute to this idea by showing in a specific context how various types of behaviors interact and ultimately promote entrepreneurship throughout the community. Our contribution for practitioners is twofold. We would urge practitioners to consider the variety of behaviors necessary to create, reinforce, and maintain fundamental and widespread change. Further, we would suggest that practitioners consider how activities in a broad community of organizations can set the stage for entrepreneurship and have a high impact on its ultimate success or failure. Thus, we would suggest that practitioners who seek to innovate should search broadly for opportunities and understand the importance of relations with businesses elsewhere in the community. The success of their entrepreneurial efforts may depend on the occurrence of supportive entrepreneurial changes in those businesses as well. Their ability to do this will be enhanced by a broad understanding of entrepreneurial behaviors and sensitivity to the opportunities that their entrepreneurial behaviors may create for others.     

The commons: A model for understanding collective action and entrepreneurship in communities

The creation of commons—resources that are shared, accessible, and collectively owned and managed by communities—is increasingly being adopted by social entrepreneurs as a way of contributing to community development and putting value into economic activities. Yet, little research is evident related to the entrepreneurial processes involved in the creation and commercialization of these shared resources. Drawing on the Institutional Analysis and Development framework developed by Ostrom (2005), I explain how commons are entrepreneurially created. Based on a comparative study of five community banks in Brazil, I derive two ideological principles of collective entrepreneurship that help sustain commercialization of commons without commodification, namely ‘self-organization’ and ‘right to access’. I elucidate how these principles are enacted across venture levels through downward and upward mechanisms of social control facilitated by entrepreneurs who enhance collective action. This article contributes to the entrepreneurship theory of commons by explaining how commons are entrepreneurially created and by adding the collective entrepreneurship principles and mechanisms that commons of different types need in order to achieve and sustain wealth-creation options without incurring the downsides of commodification.     

Entrepreneurial fear of failure: Scale development and validation

Fear of failure is an important part of the experience of entrepreneurship. Yet past research has mainly investigated fear of failure in entrepreneurship among non entrepreneurs or nascent entrepreneurs and has done so by asking for reactions to hypothetical future failure. This approach to operationalizing the construct limits our capacity for understanding how entrepreneurs actually experience fear of failure while practicing entrepreneurship. In this paper, we conceptualize entrepreneurial fear of failure as a negative affective reaction based in cognitive appraisals of the potential for failure in the uncertain and ambiguous context of entrepreneurship. We use multiple samples to develop and validate a multidimensional, formative measure to assess entrepreneurial fear of failure as a state that is both cognitive and affective in nature. In addition to evidence of the psychometric properties of the new scale across multiple studies, we present a nomological network analysis with respect to measures of theoretically derived psychological outcomes and perceived behavioral tendencies of entrepreneurial fear of failure. We then discuss the theoretical, methodological, and empirical implications of this new measure of entrepreneurial fear of failure with an eye towards use of this scale in future research.     

Stigma and business failure: implications for entrepreneurs’ career choices

We use data from global entrepreneurship monitor to examine the act of entrepreneurial reentry by entrepreneurs who exit a failed business. We study reentry by mode of entry and by form of organizing. We find that, in countries where the levels of stigma and regulatory conveyance of stigma markings were at their highest, entrepreneurs who exited failed businesses were less likely to reenter into entrepreneurial activity. Our finding suggests that negative social and economic sanctions that are associated with stigma markings speak only to one side of the entrepreneurship phenomenon. On the other side, stigma can function as a stimulus for entrepreneurs to defy the illegitimacy of the failed business and to actively seek out and engage in innovative behaviors that contribute to the overall diversity of entrepreneurial activities in their country.     

Surviving the emotional rollercoaster called entrepreneurship: The role of emotion regulation

The entrepreneurial journey is often experienced as an emotional rollercoaster, but we know very little about how entrepreneurs can ride it most effectively to increase their ventures' chances of survival. We investigate how entrepreneurs' habitual use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression – two well-established types of emotion regulation – impact on the likelihood of their venture surviving. Drawing on a sample of 183 technology ventures, we find that both regulation types are generally associated with a lower survival likelihood, but that these effects depend on the venture's performance. Our study contributes to the literatures on emotions and new venture survival in entrepreneurship and to the emotion regulation literature.     

Entrepreneurship as the nexus of individual and opportunity: A structuration view

We propose structuration theory as a useful lens through which to view the entrepreneurial process. Extending Shane and Venkataraman's work (Shane, S., Venkataraman, S., 2000. The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review 25, 217–226), entrepreneurship is presented as the nexus of opportunity and agency, whereby opportunities are not singular phenomena, but are idiosyncratic to the individual. Entrepreneurial ventures are the medium and outcome of the entrepreneurs' actions. The traditional view of entrepreneurship is that entrepreneurs fill market gaps. A structuration view proposes that the entrepreneur and social systems co-evolve. The presentation of structuration theory offers a robust, and hereto underrepresented, perspective of the entrepreneurial process.     

Regulatory focus theory and the entrepreneurial process

Regulatory focus theory delineates how people engage in self-regulation, the process of bringing oneself into alignment with one's standards and goals. At any given point in time, people may engage in self-regulation with a promotion focus or a prevention focus. When promotion-focused, people's growth and advancement needs motivate them to try to bring themselves into alignment with their ideal selves, thereby heightening the salience of potential gains to be attained (felt presence of positive outcomes). When prevention-focused, people's security and safety needs prompt them to attempt to bring themselves into alignment with their ought selves, thereby increasing the salience of potential losses to be avoided (felt absence of negative outcomes). For certain aspects of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., generating ideas with the potential to be successful), greater promotion focus is necessary. For other aspects of the entrepreneurial process (e.g., doing the “due diligence” when screening ideas), greater prevention focus is necessary. In addition to providing a framework for future research on entrepreneurship, regulatory focus theory offers some informed speculations about the level and nature of entrepreneurship that may be expected in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.