Psychology of Entrepreneurship: Research and Education

The European Commission and national governments world-wide are calling for an increase in Entrepreneurship (e.g. Reynolds, Bygrave, & Autio, 2004, Observatory of European SMEs, 2004). They have recognized the impact of entrepreneurship on: economic growth, a reduction of unemployment, regional development, innovation, and individual growth. These calls for entrepreneurship include the study, promotion, and development of both the entrepreneurial business and the entrepreneur. As a result, it is one of the fastest growing fields in the social sciences (Katz, 2003)

Passion for work: Work engagement versus workaholism.

Introduction: Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) Is passion needed for excellent performance? The question of what predicts outstanding performance at work remains timely and relevant. The term “passion for work” emerged from qualitative research on entrepreneurs’ motivation, and has been defined as a selfish, passionate love for the work (Shane, Locke & Collins, 2003). Passion for work has been proposed as key to understanding entrepreneurial behavior and performance. Passion is “… the enthusiasm, joy, and even zeal that come from the energetic and unflagging pursuit of a worthy, challenging and uplifting purpose” (Smilor, 1997, as cited in Shane at al., 2003). However, few attempts have been made so far as to operationalize the construct, let alone relate it to entrepreneurial behaviour. The current chapter aims to fill this void, by focusing on work engagement and workaholism as two motivational concepts indicating “passion for work”

Mood And Decision-Making

The purpose of this diary study with a three-month follow up among 67 business starters was to test the influence of positive and negative mood on self-reported decision effectiveness and goal attainment. Intrinsic motivation and scope of attention were included as possible mediating variables. Results of mixed linear model analyses showed a strong positive relationship between mood and motivation at the time of decision making. However, no relationship between motivation and decision effectiveness or goal attainment was found. Only negative mood, and not positive mood, related to entrepreneurs’ scope of attention. As predicted, negative mood narrowed the scope of attention. However, a broad scope of attention during decision-making negatively influenced decision effectiveness and goal attainment as assessed three months later, on top of a concurrent positive relationship between positive mood and self-reported decision effectiveness and goal attainment at the time of follow-up

DISCOtech 2018 Summary Report

On August 10, 2018, DISCOtech (Development of International Scholarship Collaboration Opportunities and the techniques) was organized for the third consecutive time as an annually recurring social event at the AOM annual meeting. DISCOtech aims to grow global entrepreneurship scholars. Globalizing entrepreneurship research has the potential to enhance its scientific rigor and practical utility. Cross-national collaborations encourage scholars to critically reflect on the historical and social embeddedness of their topics and concepts, the applicability of their methods across situations, and the cross‐national generalizability of their findings. DISCOtech aims to empower scholars to connect to individuals from other countries and to develop broad collaborations that cross national, methodological and disciplinary boundaries. In order to reach this goal, DISCOtech provides scholars the opportunity to meet face‐to-face in an informal setting and to share ideas, expertise and experience

Recovery from work by playing video games

Integrating the dualistic model of passion in the recovery literature, the present study investigates how playing video games after work hours can facilitate recovery from work stress. We predicted that passion for gaming would relate to gaming more hours in the evening. Next, we hypothesized that playing video games in the evening would relate to (a) feeling recovered the next morning through psychological detachment and (b) feeling vigorous the next morning through mastery experiences while gaming. We further hypothesized that harmonious passion would strengthen, and obsessive passion would weaken the links between gaming hours and (a) psychological detachment and (b) mastery. In total, 65 employees filled in short questionnaires in the mornings and evenings of at least five workdays (total n = 502). Results of multilevel hierarchical regression analyses supported the proposed mediation model, indicating that playing video games indeed helps replenish energy resources during leisure time. Findings additionally showed that gaming also predicted feeling recovered in the morning through mastery experiences. Players with a harmonious passion may benefit more from playing video games; harmonious (but not obsessive) passion strengthened the relationship between gaming and mastery experiences.</p

Possessing 21st-Century Skills and Building Sustainable Careers: Early-Career Social Sciences Graduates’ Perspectives

In today’s complex labor market, social sciences graduates encounter various challenges and negative experiences in their current jobs and job transitions, which may threaten the sustainability of their careers. Possessing 21st-century skills is considered important in supporting their career sustainability. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, this study investigated which 21st-century skills help social sciences graduates build a sustainable career after their graduation. The sample consisted of 129 early-career social sciences graduates. We utilized both a variable-centered (path analysis) and a person-centered (latent profile) approach to data analysis. The path-analysis results showed that collaboration, creativity, and problem solving, but not communication and critical thinking, related to career sustainability. The results also revealed a suppressor effect of problem solving on the positive relationships between creativity and health-related problems, suggesting that problem solving may prevent creative individuals from developing health-related issues. Furthermore, latent-profile analysis demonstrated two profiles: sustainable and non-sustainable careers. While both profiles exhibited similar productivity levels, individuals from the non-sustainable profile reported lower happiness and higher health problems. Partly corroborating the path-analysis results, graduates with sustainable careers differed in communication and collaboration skills. This study enhances the understanding of 21st-century skills’ role in career sustainability and validates the model of sustainable careers