Research On Entrepreneurial Identification's Model And Action Effectiveness Mechanism

In recent years,as the "entrepreneurship&innovation" strategy upgrading,start-up companies has emerged rapidly,which has a critical influence on national economics and social lives.The quantity and quality of start-ups has become an important index to evaluate the innovativeness and economic vitality of a country.Meanwhile,the environment that start-ups are faced with is still dangerous.A lot of factors contribute to the failure of a start-up,such as intense marketing competition,rapid technological iteration,and risk and uncertainty from the environment.Under this background,to explore why and how entrepreneurs insist,invest,focus and achieve a success step by step while faced with such severe challenges,is a new issue attractive to both of scholars and practioners,which is also the origin of this research.Based on a integrative view of social identity and role identity theory,this research reviewed literature about social identity theory,role identity theory,start-ups studies,action theory and so on,using theoretical and empirical ways,and tried to solve three key research questions as bellow:First,what is the essential connotation and dimensions of the concept of entrepreneurial identification?Second,how is entrepreneurial identification dynamically influenced by factors from entrepreneurial contexts,tasks and entrepreneurs themselves?Third,how entrepreneurial identification affects entrepreneurs in an action learning way,and how it impacts upon team members in a cross-level way?Study 1 conducted a multi-case study to define the concept and structure of entrepreneurial identification.By a sample of four start-ups,this study collected data using in-depth interviews,field observation,and company archives.Through within-case anlaysis and cross-case comparison,a framework based on social identity,role identity theory and theories of entrepreneurship was built,which has two axes of"society-role" and "autonomy-control".Based on this framework,four dimensions were identified including goal identification,team identification,responsibility identification,and innovation identification.Goal identification refers to the identification that entrepreneurs hold about their goals while faced with opportunities and lures;team identification refers to the identification that entrepreneurs possess about their teams and members;responsitiblity identification refers to entrepreneurial identification about ethics and responsibility;innovation identification refers to entrepreneurial identification that focuses on overtaking and innovation.Study 2 tested the concept of entrepreneurial identification by two rounds of questionnaires.This study built a items pool by literature review,theory inducing,and in-depth interviews.And after a pre-test and expertise judgement,this study obtained a preliminary scale with four dimensions and 20 items.By exploratory factor analysis,the preliminary scale was narrowed down to 16 items with satisfactory loadings.By confirmatory factor analysis,reliablity test,convergence and discriminative validity test,and criterion-related validity test,the four-dimension and 16-item scale was developed.Study 3 explored the influence of contextual factors on entrepreneurial identification.This study developed an experimental measure of entrepreneurial identification by implicit association test,and tested its criterion-related validity.By manipulating inter-organizational(competition intensity),intra-organizational(option diversity),and task-oriented(change dynamics)factors,this study conducted a scenario experiment with multi-round decision-making.Results showed that all three factors and their interactions influence the dynamic of entrepreneurial identification.Study 4 probed into the dynamic of entrepreneurial identification from task-oriented and entrepreneurs' dynamic factors.By a high frequency tracking survey based on diary and experience sampling,this study collecte data about task-oriented factors(goal hierarchy,and role multiplicity)and dynamic factors(entrepreneurial passion,entrepreneurial team,and entrepreneurial experience),and revealed the relationship of those factors and entrepreneurial identification.Results showed how these factors changed and their interactions influence the change of enpreneurial identification.Study 5 investigated the action effectiveness mechanism of entrepreneurial identification.This study conducted a 16-day training program with tracking survey to collect data from 110 enterprises' founder.Based on big data science,this study revealed that entrepreneurial identification promotes entrepreneurial competence and furthermore facilitates entrepreneurial action and performance.Besides,by big data x collecting,this study obtained subjective and objective information of team members of those founders.And by analyzing the data,this study found that entrepreneurial identification perceived by team members is positively related to their entrepreneurial commitment and thus promotes their nascent entrepreneurial behaviors in a cross-level way.This study found the interaction between competence and commitment leads to action variation,which shows a double-edged sword effect,as well as the interaction bwteen action and behaviros leads to a higher performance.This research has several contributions:First,this research defined the concept and connotation of entrepreneurial identification.Second,this research explored the influence of contextual,task-oriented,and personal factors on entrepreneurial identification,and revealed the dynamic formation mechanism of entrepreneurial identification.Third,this research tested the promoting effect of entrepreneurial identification on entrepreneurial competence and then entrepreneurial action,with the moderating role of and double-edged effect of action variation,and revealed the action mechanism of entrepreneurial identification.Fourth,this research tested the relationship of team members' perceptions of entrepreneurial identification and their commitment and nascent entrepreneurial behaviors,and reveald the cross-level effectiveness mechanism of entrepreneurial identification.The findings of this research enrich the application of identity and action theory in the field of entrepreneurship,and provide guidance for practice of start-ups as well.