A dynamic account of self-efficacy in entrepreneurship

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

We present a dynamic account of self-efficacy in entrepreneurship that integrates social-cognitive and control theory. According to our dynamic account, variability in self-efficacy energizes action because it involves self-motivation and discrepancy perception as competing motivational processes. We argue that variability and the average level in self-efficacy nascent entrepreneurs display over time support the enactment of entrepreneurial intentions and predict business ownership. The proposed positive effect of variability further implies an inverted u-shaped relationship between self-efficacy at a single point in time and business ownership. To test these hypotheses, we repeatedly assessed entrepreneurial self-efficacy of nascent African entrepreneurs during a 12-week entrepreneurship training program (total N = 241). Twelve months later, we assessed business ownership (total N = 190). We found that variability and the average level in entrepreneurial self-efficacy participants displayed during the training program were positively related to business ownership. Furthermore, for participants with strong entrepreneurial intentions, we found an inverted u-shaped relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy after the training program and business ownership. The study suggests that social-cognitive and control theory highlight different facets of self-regulation that both need to be accounted for to explain goal achievement in entrepreneurship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Applied Psychology
Volume105
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)487-505
Number of pages19
ISSN0021-9010
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 05.2020

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Repeat Receipts
  2. Mining User-Generated Financial Content to Predict Stock Price Movements
  3. Human-Value-Oriented Digital Social Innovation: A Multilevel Design Framework
  4. Entwicklung von Netzwerken
  5. Later Life Workplace Index: Validation of an English Version
  6. Nutzen – Nutzung - Nutzer_innen
  7. Scale Misfit in Ecosystem Service Governance as a Source of Environmental Conflict
  8. Social Bots as algorithmic pirates and messengers of techno-environmental agency
  9. Non-target Analysis and Chemometric Evaluation of a Passive Sampler Monitoring of Small Streams
  10. Biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation
  11. Scientists’ Responsibility for Global Futures
  12. Manager’s misinterpretation of goodwill impairments
  13. Coupled Modeling Approach for Laser Shock Peening of AA2198-T3
  14. The Toxicity of the Quaternary Ammonium Compound Benzalkonium Chloride Alone and in Mixtures with Other Anionic Compounds to Bacteria in Test Systems with Vibrio Fischeri and Pseudomonas Putida
  15. The impact of auditor rotation, audit firm rotation and non-audit services on earnings quality, audit quality and investor perceptions: A literature review
  16. Explorations in regional variation
  17. Media of Trust
  18. Das Reflexivitätsproblem und die Kategorienlehre
  19. myStudy
  20. Remaining time and opportunities at work: Relationships between age, work characteristics, and occupational future time perspective
  21. Technological change and the dynamics of industries, theoretical issues and empirical evidence from Dutch manufacturing
  22. Barrier effects in real-world compared to virtual reality macro-environments
  23. Einführung
  24. How Organizing Matters for Societal Grand Challenges
  25. Die Welteislehre
  26. Conjectural variations equilibrium in a mixed duopoly
  27. The adoption and implementation of Activity-based Costing
  28. Entrepreneurship in conventions, place-making, and spaces of creativity
  29. Logik
  30. Ecologies of Change
  31. Analyis of a Potential Single and Combined Business Model for Stationary Battery Storage Systems
  32. TraceSim