Abstract
Although the impact entrepreneurial learning on firm performance has attracted significant attention, a comprehensive understanding by integrating entrepreneurial orientation and individual self-efficacy remain poorly understood. We fill this void by integrating the above variables into a model and examine these relations. Findings from a sample of 411 nascent entrepreneurs support that entrepreneurial learning is positively related to firm performance, and this relationship is fully mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). We also found entrepreneurial orientation strengthens the positive impact of entrepreneurial learning on ESE. The findings indicate that ESE must be in place to maximize the effect of entrepreneurial learning on performance, and entrepreneurial orientation is an important contingency in shaping entrepreneurial learning's impact on nascent entrepreneur's self-efficacy.
Highlights
It is widely acknowledged that entrepreneurship is the vigor and vitality of economy (Cope, 2005; Jin et al, 2021; Yousaf et al, 2021) and the entrepreneur is the catalyst for entrepreneurial activity (Cope, 2005; Parker, 2013; Feng and Chen, 2020)
In our study, based on social cognitive theory, we focus on nascent entrepreneurs as research objects and propose a research model that unlocks the influence of entrepreneurial learning on firm performance by examining the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE)
The results show that the entrepreneurial learning is positively associated with ESE and firm performance
Summary
It is widely acknowledged that entrepreneurship is the vigor and vitality of economy (Cope, 2005; Jin et al, 2021; Yousaf et al, 2021) and the entrepreneur is the catalyst for entrepreneurial activity (Cope, 2005; Parker, 2013; Feng and Chen, 2020). More and more young graduates join the entrepreneurship boom, thousands of entrepreneurs fail each year and the new venture mortality rates remain relatively high (Klimas et al, 2021; Lattacher et al, 2021). The startup’s demise may be caused by a lack of entrepreneurial preparedness. New ventures are difficult to cope with high-level uncertainty of market environment due to lack of sufficient entrepreneurial preparedness. Scholars have begun to emphasize that entrepreneurial learning is a key ingredient for firm survival and success, especially a new business in its early developmental stages
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