The Effect of Sports Experience and Competitive Orientation on Entrepreneurial Priorities, Attitudes, and Decision Making.

Abstract

This paper poses a few questions about the link between athletic experience and entrepreneurial behavior. Does athletic experience affect entrepreneurial attitudes, decisions, and, therefore, outcomes? If so, is it specifically their competitive orientation that drives these differences? This paper uses survey data to observe differences in attitudes, decisions, leadership, and strategy between athletes and non-athletes. This paper also implements an experiment, which randomly assigns half of the participants to be primed by recalling a competitive situation to test whether differences in behavior between athletes and non-athletes can be attributed to a competitive mindset. The survey undertaken for this purpose received 100 responses.
 In this research, I also specifically examine the role that a competitive mindset, which is frequently developed through sports, plays in entrepreneurial attitudes, priorities, and strategies. This paper tests if athletes and non-athletes make different decisions in the face of entrepreneurial challenges. It also examines whether any of those differences can be attributed to the competitive orientation of people with athletic experience.