Entrepreneurial Motivation And Performance

This study draws on three different, yet complementary, theories, which we combine in an interactive manner, to explain the motivational mechanisms of individual entrepreneurial behavior and ultimately impact performance. More specifically, we use chance-complexity and chaos, cognitive and social motivation theories to examine individual entrepreneurs' behavior in a comfortable business environment and its influence on their entrepreneurial performance. One hundred and twenty participants functioning as interdependent manager dyads completed a strategic decision-making simulation. Hierarchical regression and random coefficient modeling techniques were used to test hypothesized relationships. Results demonstrated that the effect of the business chance on individual strategy is enhanced when it is more positively identified and chosen. The self-efficacy had a stronger relationship with performance goals, when strategies are more positively trusted by entrepreneur. Finally, goals of entrepreneur and business strategy had both direct and interactive effects on individual entrepreneurial performance. We argue that these findings constitute a useful advance in middle-range motivation (Landy and Becker 1987, Pinder 1984) theory pertaining to entrepreneurship.