Who stays proactive after entrepreneurship training? Need for cognition, personal initiative maintenance, and well-being
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In: Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 40, No. 1, 01.2019, p. 20-37.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Who stays proactive after entrepreneurship training? Need for cognition, personal initiative maintenance, and well-being
AU - Mensmann, Mona
AU - Frese, Michael
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - Personal initiative training is a promising way to increase entrepreneurial personal initiative, which is a key behavior for successful entrepreneurship. Although personal initiative training has been shown to promote personal initiative, little is known about how this proactive behavior can be maintained over time and what the consequences are. The training transfer literature suggests that training effects usually decline with time. It is not clear, however, which factors contribute to personal initiative maintenance and which benefits go along with it. In a randomized controlled field experiment with 912 microentrepreneurs in Lomé, Togo, we investigate the influence of need for cognition—a cognitive factor driving proactive behavior—on personal initiative maintenance after training. In addition, we examine the effect of need for cognition on the well-being consequences of personal initiative maintenance. We show that people high in need for cognition tend to maintain posttraining personal initiative longer than those low in need for cognition. However, contrary to our predictions, need for cognition has no effect on the level of well-being that results from personal initiative maintenance. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of personal initiative and its maintenance and could be used to increase training effectiveness.
AB - Personal initiative training is a promising way to increase entrepreneurial personal initiative, which is a key behavior for successful entrepreneurship. Although personal initiative training has been shown to promote personal initiative, little is known about how this proactive behavior can be maintained over time and what the consequences are. The training transfer literature suggests that training effects usually decline with time. It is not clear, however, which factors contribute to personal initiative maintenance and which benefits go along with it. In a randomized controlled field experiment with 912 microentrepreneurs in Lomé, Togo, we investigate the influence of need for cognition—a cognitive factor driving proactive behavior—on personal initiative maintenance after training. In addition, we examine the effect of need for cognition on the well-being consequences of personal initiative maintenance. We show that people high in need for cognition tend to maintain posttraining personal initiative longer than those low in need for cognition. However, contrary to our predictions, need for cognition has no effect on the level of well-being that results from personal initiative maintenance. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of personal initiative and its maintenance and could be used to increase training effectiveness.
KW - entrepreneurship
KW - maintenance
KW - need for cognition
KW - personal initiative
KW - proactive behavior
KW - training
KW - well-being
KW - Entrepreneurship
KW - Business psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056089980&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/job.2333
DO - 10.1002/job.2333
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85056089980
VL - 40
SP - 20
EP - 37
JO - Journal of Organizational Behavior
JF - Journal of Organizational Behavior
SN - 0894-3796
IS - 1
ER -