Entrepreneurial Optimism Research Articles

Revealing the Link Between Open Minded, Uncertainty Readiness and Optimism in Business Performance for Food and Beverage Businesses

Abstract Business performance is an urgent topic to explore because there are many aspects that influence it. One thing that can guarantee business performance is open-minded entrepreneurship, uncertain readiness, and entrepreneurial optimism. In this context, businesses in the form of Food and Beverage (F&B) have become popular in the last few decades in Indonesia. From this research, it investigates the effects of open-minded entrepreneurs, uncertain readiness, and entrepreneurial optimism on business performance. Apart from that, it also dissects the relevance of open-minded entrepreneurship and uncertain readiness on business performance which is mediated by entrepreneurial optimism. The quantitative method was operated via an online survey involving cafe and restaurant owners (N = 128) spread across several big cities in Indonesia. Then, the data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). As a result, of the five hypotheses developed, three were accepted. Open-minded entrepreneurship, uncertain readiness, and entrepreneurial optimism are proven to influence business performance. On the one hand, the other two hypotheses are rejected, where open-minded entrepreneurship or uncertain readiness have no impact on business performance through entrepreneurial optimism. By implication, the output of the research is interesting to highlight in the future. Optimism in too high a capacity can harm the business. This is triggered by the level of vigilance and actions of business owners in making decisions based on irrational emotions.

Unpacking the optimistic mindset of business students towards entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurial ventures are established in large numbers in China. The success rate of these entrepreneurial ventures is lower than that of new startups. Mismanagement and a lack of creative skills among entrepreneurs are cited as reasons for entrepreneurial failure in China. The current study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial networking and new venture intention on entrepreneurial success in China, with psychological capital and entrepreneurial optimism serving as moderators. 483 responses were collected from business students in China for data analysis. The findings of the study reveal that the impact of entrepreneurial networking and new venture intention on entrepreneurial success in China, with the moderating role of psychological capital and entrepreneurial optimism, is significant. The theoretical framework of this research has novelty as it introduces new moderating relationships of psychological capital and entrepreneurial optimism in the model of entrepreneurial success. Practically, this study has revealed that entrepreneurial success can be achieved with entrepreneurial networking, entrepreneurial optimism, psychological capital, and new venture intention. The directions of this research point out additional gaps in the literature that scholars should discuss in subsequent studies.

Can University Students’ Psychological Resources Stimulate the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Optimism and Green Entrepreneurial Intentions? Moderating Role of Sustainability Orientation

Given the crucial role of entrepreneurial optimism (EO) in prompting university students’ green entrepreneurial intentions (GEI), scholars are still striving to explore the causal mechanism that can facilitate the underlying relationship. Based on the social cognitive theory, we hypothesize that individual’s psychological resources, entrepreneurial resilience (ER) and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE), mediate the association between EO and GEI. In addition, this study seeks to investigate the impact of sustainability orientation (SO) in the relationship between EO and GEI. Data for this study have been collected from Chinese university students in their final years. The authors used variance-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicate that EO significantly influences GEI. Further, ER and ESE significantly mediate the link between EO and GEI. Moreover, this study finds that SO significantly moderates the relationship between EO and GEI such that the association is stronger at high levels of SO and vice versa. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no prior studies have tested these relationships. The findings suggest that the proposed model can be utilized by practitioners and policy makers to facilitate the execution of green entrepreneurship among university students.

Utopias of Oil

At a time of a “private equity oil rush,” this essay explores how oil industry entrepreneurs with ambitions of setting up their own oil-production companies are encouraged to “dream big”—yet are ultimately disciplined and let down—by private equity finance in the state of Colorado in the United States. Motivated by a desire to “do oil differently,” these start-ups articulate utopian visions that draw on inequalities in extractive economies to promote an ethos of care and inclusion. I argue that while economic imaginations are commonly seen to offer alternatives to and critiques of capitalism, it is important also to attend to articulations of capitalist utopia. As private equity has come to form a secreted infrastructure that underlies much of the world’s financial system and encourages entrepreneurial optimism and euphoria, I explore how the contemporary life of capitalism stimulates attitudes to wealth creation that remain markedly conventional and unadventurous.

Entrepreneurial optimism and creative destruction

Using textual analysis of annual reports of US-listed firms, we provide empirical evidence that uncertainty (rather than risk) and optimism are distinctive characteristics of high-impact entrepreneurial firms (recently listed firms) relative to old incumbent firms. We construct an entrepreneurial entry predation model with uncertainty based on this evidence. We show that optimistic entrepreneurs may enter markets that otherwise would be blocked from entry by incumbents’ predatory threats. Thus entrepreneurial optimism may be to the benefit of consumers. Entrepreneurial optimism can also create a strategic advantage for entrepreneurs since incumbents may react by being less aggressive in product market interactions, which will benefit the profitability of the entrepreneur’s venture and consumers via lower prices.

Stimuler l'optimisme et renforcer les capacités des femmes entrepreneures: leçons apprises de la COVID-19

While government, institutional and community efforts were in full swing to stimulate women’s entrepreneurship, COVID-19 hit the global economy hard. This article focuses on the determinants that stimulate the entrepreneurial optimism among women entrepreneurs and strengthen the capacity of Quebec’s SMEs to survive. Explanatory frameworks from chaos and dynamic capacities theories are mobilized to study how entrepreneurial skills and financial needs shape women’s entrepreneurial optimism, which in turn determines the resilience of SMEs in times of crisis. The study is based on a survey of 1,080 female entrepreneurs conducted in April 2020. The results highlight the need for business skill building, innovation skill development and new digital skills to boost entrepreneurial optimism and increase the chances of surviving the crisis. On the other hand, despite targeted government assistance, difficulties in accessing financing remain and high debt levels are major obstacles to overcoming the crisis.

Overseas Chinese Returnees’ Swindler Syndrome and Their Entrepreneurial Education Under Psychological Resilience

The study aims to explore the entrepreneurship education of overseas Chinese returnees with the swindler syndrome through psychological resilience. First, a questionnaire survey is conducted to analyze the current situations of entrepreneurship education of overseas Chinses returnees and college students, and it is found that the entrepreneurship education received by overseas Chinese returnees is more advanced and perfect than that by domestic students, which makes overseas Chinese returnees have the ability to solve the problems in the process of entrepreneurship, realizing their entrepreneurial dream. However, the emergence of swindler syndrome changes the self-awareness and psychology of these returnees, which is improved through appropriate entrepreneurship education under resilience analysis. The results show that entrepreneurial resilience and entrepreneurial optimism covered by psychological resilience have a significant positive impact on entrepreneurial intention, indicating that entrepreneurial resilience and entrepreneurial optimism can enhance individual’s entrepreneurial intention. The scores of the subjects with the experience of studying abroad are higher than those without such experience, indicating that overseas Chinese returnees have stronger resilience and more optimistic attitudes in the face of difficulties and setbacks, which provides a new perspective for in-depth analysis of Chinese returnees’ entrepreneurship education and promotes the development of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities in China.

The Impact of Entrepreneurial Optimism and Labor Law on Business Performance of New Ventures.

The purpose is to study the internal relationship between entrepreneurial optimism and business performance of new ventures, and the impact of entrepreneurial optimism on the business performance of new ventures. Based on the literature review, the hypotheses that entrepreneurial optimism has a positive impact on the business performance of new ventures and that labor law plays a mediating role in the impact are put forward. Then, the questionnaire is designed according to the maturity scale, and 200 questionnaires are collected. Finally, the descriptive statistical analysis, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis of the theoretical model and hypothesis are carried out by using the statistical analysis software spsss22.0. The results show that each dimension of entrepreneurial optimism has a significant positive impact on the business performance of new ventures, and labor law plays a mediating role between them. This study provides a new idea for the establishment of the performance impact mechanism of new ventures and helps new entrepreneurs realize the importance of maintaining an optimistic attitude, improving the business performance of new ventures.

An Institutional Perspective on Optimism and Entrepreneurial Exit

We explore the effect of entrepreneurs’ optimism on entrepreneurial exit using survey results of 175 new ventures based in China. The findings of this study challenge the assumption that there is a linear relationship between entrepreneurial optimism and entrepreneurial exit, we demonstrate that there is a U-shaped relationship. We also incorporate institutional theory to address the importance of institutional context in the external environment on entrepreneurial exit. Our results suggest that institutional support moderates the U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurial optimism and entrepreneurial exit, in other words, when institutional support is high, the relationship is more positive for overly optimistic entrepreneurs, and the relationship is more negative for moderately optimistic entrepreneurs.

I got this! resource bundles and adversity: A situated entrepreneurial optimism perspective

Remaining optimistic in the face of adversity is critical during the entrepreneurial process. Entrepreneurship research has overwhelmingly focused on the consequences of optimism. Here, we shift this attention to the “whence” of optimism. Integrating micro- and macro-level resource theories, we build a situated entrepreneurial optimism framework to contend that resource combinations are associated with entrepreneurial optimism. To explore resource configurations, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and examine five resource components tapping into human, social, and financial capital. We find that entrepreneurial optimism does not rest on one resource component but on the combination of at least two. Human and social capital components form a part of most configurations consistently associated with entrepreneurial optimism. This study extends entrepreneurship research by shifting the theoretical and empirical focus to the antecedents of optimism and contributes to macro-level resource theories by linking resources to more proximal venture outcomes.

Collaborative Futures: Arts Funding and Speculative Fictions

According to scholars of literary sociology, US arts institutions—from the federal government to the writers’ colony to the creative writing program—have been central to the shaping of US literature for the better part of a century. This paper offers a preliminary investigation of the global crowdfunding platform Kickstarter as an emerging arts institution. Drawing on Kim Stanley Robinson and Marina Abramović’s artistic collaboration as a case study, the paper argues that the appearance of the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) in Robinson’s novel New York 2140 troubles the author’s stated generic commitments to “realist speculative fiction”—fiction that bases its vision of the future on the state of things in our present. In addition to furnishing uncertain conditions of production for the novel, Kickstarter’s funding model solicits short-form speculative fiction organized around neoliberal selfhood from its artists. With the assistance of Kickstarter’s networked platform, the MAI’s capital campaign reimagined private funding as public performance art, as dutiful civic engagement, and as reward for artists willing to narrate entrepreneurial optimism.

ENTREPRENEURIAL PASSION, ENTREPRENEURIAL ALERTNESS AND ISLAMIC ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION: ITS APPLICATION TO THE MUSLIMAH ENTREPRENEUR

The success of an entrepreneur orientation from an Islamic perspective is not only measured in material success but also in a growing business. Muslimah entrepreneur needs passion and alertness in entrepreneurship to help to shape an entrepreneurial optimism and make decisions as well as business development efforts. The aims of the research are (1). Analyzing the influence of entrepreneurial passion on entrepreneurial alertness (2). Analyzing the influence of entrepreneurial alertness on Islamic entrepreneurial orientation (3). Analyzing the influence of entrepreneurial passion on Islamic entrepreneurial orientation. Data were collected from a sample of 86 Muslimah entrepreneurs from the Association of Muslimah Entrepreneurs in Jambi Province. Data collection is carried out using a questionnaire as the instrument research. Moreover, path analysis is used to analyze the influence of each variable studied. The results showed that there is a positive and significant influence between: entrepreneurial passion on entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial alertness on Islamic entrepreneurial orientation, and entrepreneurial passion on the Islamic entrepreneurial orientation of Muslimah entrepreneurs. Research implementation will enhance the passion and alertness of Muslimah entrepreneurs and it suggests further studies to strengthen the model of research particularly in terms of Islamic entrepreneurship perspective.

The Relationship between Entrepreneurial Optimism and Business Recovery during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 created unprecedented challenges for the business sector, which provide a unique way to study what drives the ability of firms to overcome exogenous shocks. Using a large-scale longitudinal survey, we study how entrepreneurial traits shaped entrepreneurs’ actions during a pandemic. Evidence from 1,632 UK firms shows that entrepreneurs who score high on optimism were more likely to innovate and make organizational changes to their firms during the Covid-19 outbreak. Moreover, optimistic entrepreneurs experienced higher revenue growth during the pandemic. Collectively, our study sheds light on the psychological factors explaining why some firms can prosper and some others struggle in the wake of an external shock.

Great expectations: Learning the boundaries of design rights

We present a case study of an increase in design right filings and concurrent design right litigations in an industry that previously had little experience of design right protection. The motives for and outcomes of filing, and how these changed over time are discussed. We go on to explore the events, which offered the decision makers opportunities to update their beliefs about the scope of design right protection. We find that filing motives changed from specific protection goals to freedom to operate over time. We also find that the actors faced several, but sometimes contradictory, learning opportunities. There are two types of learning relating to the usage of design rights: 1) learning the initial scope of protection and 2) learning the dynamism of scope that results from the growing number of designs in the product category. The evidence suggests that the scope of existing design rights is negatively affected by new design right grants. Our findings highlight the essential role of belief formation and updating in innovation activity and intellectual property rights-based competition. We conclude that uncertain design rights and information asymmetries may have fostered entrepreneurial optimism.

Information and Analytical Content of the Business Climate Monitoring of Services

The paper explores the potential application of results of business climate monitoring of services in Russia to analyze development levels of the sector under review and Russian economy in general. Source data - are the 2012 Q1 - 2018 Q4 results. These data are summarized in the traditional composite index of business confidence, and alternative business climate indicator calculated using principal component analysis. To examine the reaction of GDP to impulses in the business climate indicator the Vector Autoregression Model was used. The results of services surveys provide reliable information on the economic sentiment that is essential to measure recession and recovery development of the sector. Since 2013, the survey’s results demonstrate a stable negative trend in the indicators dynamics. The slight increase in entrepreneurial optimism in 2016-2018 did not result in moving confidence to a positive zone. Aggregate entrepreneurial estimates show weak and unstable demand on services driven by a long-term decline in household real disposable income. A more extended observation period needs to conclude the BCI cyclic properties; however, it can be used now to analyze the development of the Russian services sector. Calculations of the business climate index in the service sector showcase that it reflects changes in the growth rate of the GDP physical volume recorded by official statistics more sufficiently than the traditional index of entrepreneurial confidence (taking into account the simultaneous correlation). The insufficient length of the time-series of survey results so far limits the ability to extract and analyze the cyclic profile of a composite indicator. The authors, however, proposed using the principal component analysis to construct an alternative composite index to analyze the economic development of the services sector.

Information Content of the Russian Services Surveys

The paper explores the information content of surveys of the Russian services sector using the surveys’ results since 2012Q1 to 2018Q4. To summarise entrepreneurial opinions in a one-dimensional index the indicators of confidence and business climate are calculated. To examine the reaction of GDP to impulses in the business climate indicator and to forecast GDP growth by the end of 2019, the Vector Autoregression Model was used. The results of services surveys provide reliable information on the economic sentiment that is essential to measure recession and recovery development of the sector. Since 2013, the survey’s results demonstrate a stable five-year trend of ‘pessimism accumulation’ in the indicators dynamics. The slight increase in entrepreneurial optimism in 2016-2018 did not result in moving confidence to a positive zone. The business climate indicator (BCI) performs better than the traditional confidence indicator in terms of synchronous correlations with GDP growth. A longer observation period needs to draw conclusions about the BCI cyclic properties; however, it can be used now to analyze the development of the Russian services sector.

Optimistic Entrepreneurs and New Product Introductions in High Technology Industries

This study examines how the relationship between past performance and new product introductions is influenced by entrepreneurial optimism. Based on the behavioral theory of the firm, we test how pa...

University Students and their faculty: Perceptions of entrepreneurial optimism, overconfidence and entrepreneurial Intentions

While an entrepreneurial career requires some level of optimism and confidence, unfounded optimism and overconfidence can be detrimental to entrepreneurial success. By comparing student and faculty perceptual differences, we assess whether university students are overly optimistic regarding the outcomes they expect from an entrepreneurial career as well as overconfident in their perceptions of barriers to entrepreneurship. Findings suggest that, overall, students are more optimistic but not more confident than faculty. Also, students who are more optimistic and more confident than their faculty, also perceive themselves to be more entrepreneurial and have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than their peers.

ENTREPRENEURIAL OPTIMISM, THE NATURE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE AND DEBT DECISION FOR BUSINESS START-UP

This paper studies the entrepreneurial optimism and debt decisions for business start-up. By analysing a sample of 160 business start-up and by using the panel data estimation, we study entrepreneurs’ optimism and its impact on debt decision of business start-up. The measure of entrepreneurial optimism is based on the entrepreneur earnings forecasts initiated by Lin et al. (2005). Meanwhile, the nature of entrepreneurial experience (serial and portfolio entrepreneur) has an effect on entrepreneurial optimism and leads to more or less optimistic entrepreneur. The results reveal that optimistic entrepreneur prefers equity in funding the financial deficit. Serial entrepreneurs tend to use more debt funding. In the dynamic model, the entrepreneur acquiring business concurrently adjusts slowly to debt ratio. Nevertheless, the sequential entrepreneurial experience leads to more optimism and so on more debt use. Given the governance role played by banks, the high adjustment cost for start-up is a consequence of the efficiency of the quality of control exercised by banks that in spite of entrepreneurial optimism, the entrepreneur does not convince the financiers to be so confident on the prospect of the business.

The Impact of Collective Optimism on New Venture Creation and Growth: A Social Contagion Perspective

Social contagion research suggests that individual decision making is shaped by collective, social processes. We extend the entrepreneurial optimism literature by arguing that collective optimism—the shared, positive expectations about future outcomes—is salient to key entrepreneurial outcomes. We test our position by examining how fluctuations in U.S. collective entrepreneurial optimism influence venture creation and growth using 1993–2010 NFIB entrepreneurial optimism data. Results indicate that collective entrepreneurial optimism exhibits a curvilinear relationship with venture creation and growth, which is moderated by environmental dynamism. We validate the NFIB measure by constructing an alternative measure of collective entrepreneurial optimism using media reports.