Entrepreneurial fear of failure is a ubiquitous yet aversive experience with critical implications for entrepreneurial action and well-being. To understand how entrepreneurs can effectively cope with ...fear-inducing obstacles, we hypothesize and experimentally test the extent to which self-compassion, cultivated through Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), counteracts entrepreneurs’ fear of failure when facing a threatening venture obstacle. Compared to an active control group, entrepreneurs exposed to a brief guided LKM showed higher self-compassion, which, in turn, was associated with lower fear reactivity. We offer novel contributions to entrepreneurship theory and practice by highlighting the role of meditation and self-compassion in building entrepreneurial resilience.
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.
•We define entrepreneurial fear of failure as multi-dimensional, formative, and temporal construct that is cognitive and affective in nature.•We provide a new understanding of the concept of entrepreneurial fear of failure as emerging from concrete experience in the performative context of entrepreneurship•Using multiple samples, we develop and validate a new measure of entrepreneurial fear of failure for use in entrepreneurship research.•We provide an instrument to investigate how entrepreneurial fear of failure impacts the direction of the venture over time, not just the decision to start the venture.•We show that entrepreneurial fear of failure is not stable over time and that its dimensions have a differential effect on psychological outcomes and perceived behavioral tendencies.
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.
•Two studies using surveys and facial expression analysis reveal a positive influence of fear of failure on negative affect•Passion of the entrepreneur regulates this effect in the context of real life pitching events.•Harmonious passion is a functional regulator.•Results show mixed evidence regarding obsessive passion’s regulatory function.
The purpose of the study was to examine the moderating effect of business role model and fear of failure on the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and behavior. The participants were ...sampled from 1865 college students who graduated from universities in China from 2012 to 2018. The experimental instrument was comprised of four scales concerning entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial behavior, fear of failure, and business role model. The data were analyzed using hierarchical regression. The results showed that: (1) Entrepreneurial intention was positively influenced the entrepreneurial behavior; (2) Fear of failure weakened the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and action; (3) The moderating effect of business role model on entrepreneurial intention and behavior was confirmed. We concluded that entrepreneurial intention was positively related to the entrepreneurial behavior, fear of failure hindered college students from taking entrepreneurial behavior, and business role model will enhance their entrepreneurial intention. The paper suggest that some measures should be taken to overcome college students' fear of failure, and to improve the education system of entrepreneurship in order to cultivate talents with creativity.
In the quest to get the best from those for whom they are responsible, some parents and managers seek or demand perfection. But do such expectations benefit the targets, in terms of their capacity ...for creativity? The present research examines how perfectionistic parental and supervisor expectations influence employees’ fear of failure and creativity; in particular, the authors propose that perfectionistic parental expectations promote a fear of failure, which undermines employee creativity later in life. In line with social cognitive theory, when perfectionistic supervisor expectations repeat and reinforce these early life experiences, the negative mechanism may be strengthened. Tests of the hypotheses rely on two time-lagged field studies in different cultures (214 U.S. employees, 276 supervisor–employee–parent triads from a Chinese organization) and show that the indirect effect of parents’ perfectionistic expectations on creativity, through fear of failure, is stronger when perfectionistic supervisor expectations are high. This study thus offers unique insights into how familial and work experiences can jointly affect a person’s fear of failure and further creativity at work.
Fear of failure can dominate the choices of individuals. We model its role in the decision to become an entrepreneur and subsequent investments made in pursuit of success using the framework of loss ...aversion. We show that when an individual's threshold for success is sufficiently high, fear of failure motivates additional investment. When the threshold for success is equal to the foregone outside option, on the other hand, fear of failure is always de-motivating. Finally, regardless of the success threshold, fear of failure is negatively associated with entry into entrepreneurship. Our findings highlight the importance of the interaction between the degree of fear of failure and the aspirations of the would-be entrepreneur.
•We model the role of fear of failure in entry and investment decisions of entrepreneurs using the framework of loss aversion.•When an individual's threshold for success is sufficiently high, fear of failure motivates additional investment.•When the threshold for success is low or equal to the foregone outside option, fear of failure is always de-motivating.•Regardless of the success threshold, fear of failure is negatively associated with entry into entrepreneurship.•We highlight the importance of the interaction between the degree of fear of failure and the aspirations of the entrepreneur.
The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine entrepreneurial alertness as a process and theinfluence of fear of failure on this process in the context of small firms. The hypotheses are ...testedwithin a sample of 179 founder–managers from small manufacturing firms in Eastern Mexico usinga hierarchical regression analysis. The results show that the association and connection dimensionpartially mediates the relationship between the scanning and search dimension and the evaluation andjudgment dimension. Also, these relationships are negatively moderated by fear of failure. This studycontributes to the existing opportunity recognition research, specifically to better understandentrepreneurial alertness as a process that simultaneously crosses three different dimensions andincorporates the influence of fear of failure.
PDF
