Commitment profiles of nascent entrepreneurs: insights from an empirical taxonomy among French student entrepreneurs

Abstract

PurposeIn line with an emerging body of literature questioning student entrepreneurs’ practices, and recent calls to bridge the intention-action gap, this contribution aims to identify profiles of commitment among nascent entrepreneurs, and their relationship with the performance of entrepreneurial behaviors.Design/methodology/approachRelying on Meyer and Allen's multidimensional model, the authors build an empirical taxonomy regarding affective and instrumental forms of commitment experienced by nascent entrepreneurs (n = 328) operating within French higher education.FindingsThe authors identify three commitment profiles – weak, affective and total – associated with distinct levels of advancement and investment in the entrepreneurial process. This analysis leads them to map out the entrepreneurial process followed by nascent entrepreneurs with three main thresholds: the initial threshold, the resonance threshold and the irreversibility threshold.Research limitations/implicationsThe work contributes to an emerging field of research dedicated to student entrepreneurship. It highlights the existence of different trajectories among nascent entrepreneurs, but also to different ways of being tied to them. It also enriches more broadly the understanding of the entrepreneurial process, especially its volitional phase.Practical implicationsThe results are also important to guide public action, especially to design relevant support programs accounting for nascent entrepreneurs' diversity.Originality/valueThis is the first research to identify profiles of nascent student entrepreneurs based on the way they feel tied to their project, but also to the broader project of becoming entrepreneurs.