The paths leading to harmonious and obsessive entrepreneurial passion

Abstract

ABSTRACT Prior studies have typically examined the individual antecedents of entrepreneurial passion, but overlooked the complex interactions among those determinants. This study addresses this gap in the literature by using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to explore the combinations of educational, structural, and relational support and entrepreneurial self-efficacy that drive two types of entrepreneurial passion; namely, obsessive and harmonious passion. We tested our propositions by reference to a sample of 304 young individuals who had graduated from or were studying at business and engineering schools in France. Data were collected between November 2020 and January 2021. Our findings challenge the net effect approach and indicate that passion is, instead, shaped by several combinations of support mechanisms and individual traits. Specifically, obsessive and harmonious passion are triggered by one common path and two discrete configurations of factors. These findings have important implications for theory and practice.