Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal
Published in: International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal 3/2018

07-04-2018

Entrepreneurial motivation: a non-entrepreneur’s journey to become an entrepreneur

Authors: Raj V. Mahto, William C. McDowell

Published in: International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal | Issue 3/2018

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

In entrepreneurship literature, much research effort is focused on differentiating entrepreneurs, recognizing or exploiting opportunities, resources available or required, or a combination of the three entrepreneurship-defining factors. There is, however, very little research on understanding a non-entrepreneur’s motivation to become an entrepreneur. This greatly limits our knowledge of the entrepreneurial process. It has hindered our understanding of how non-entrepreneurs are motivated to pursue entrepreneurial career options and has led to misinformed decisions by scholars and policy makers. In this paper, our goal is to develop a theory of entrepreneurial motivation that explains how non-entrepreneurs develop the motivation to pursue entrepreneurship. We argue that an individual’s self-assessment of their identity is the primary factor in individuals developing entrepreneurial motivation. The identity self-assessment leads individuals either to seek enhancement of their identity or establish a new identity that opens them to the influence of entrepreneurial motivation reinforcing entrepreneurial exposure in their social environment.
previous article Guest editor’s introduction: so what is entrepreneurship research?
next article Financial return crowdfunding: literature review and bibliometric analysis

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Literature
Alvarez, S. A. (2005). Theories of entrepreneurship: Alternative assumptions and the study of entrepreneurial action. Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship, 1(3), 105–148.CrossRef
Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of management studies, 39(5), 619–644.CrossRef
Amit, R., & Zott, C. (2001). Value creation in e-business. Strategic Management Journal, 22(6–7), 493–520.CrossRef
Ashforth, B. E., & Kreiner, G. E. (1999). “How can you do it?”: Dirty work and the challenge of constructing a positive identity. Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 413–434.
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20–39.CrossRef
Ashforth, B. E., & Schinoff, B. S. (2016). Identity under construction: How individuals come to define themselves in organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3, 111–137.CrossRef
Bagozzi, R. P. (1992). The self-regulation of attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Social psychology quarterly, 178–204.
Baker, T., & Nelson, R. E. (2005). Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50(3), 329–366.CrossRef
Bateson, M. C. (2004). Willing to learn: Passages of personal discovery. Hanover: Steerforth Press.
Baumeister, R. F. (1998). The self. In G. L. Gardner (Ed.), The Handbook of Social Psychology, vol. 1 (4th ed.): 680–726. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Baumol, W. J. (1968). Entrepreneurship in economic theory. The American Economic Review, 64–71.
Bird, B., and Schjoedt, L (2009). Entrepreneurial Behavior: Its Nature, Scope, Recent Research, and Agenda for Future Research. In Understanding the Entrepreneurial Mind: Opening the Black Box. Ed. A. Carsrud and M. Brännback. Heidel- berg: Springer, 327–358.
Blumer, H. (1962). Society as symbolic interaction. In A. M. Rose (Ed.), Human Behavior and Social Processes: An Interactionist Approach. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Blustein, D. L., Devenis, L. E., & Kidney, B. A. (1989). Relationship between the identity formation process and career development. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36(2), 196.CrossRef
Burke, P. J., & Stets, J. E. (1999). Trust and commitment through self-verification. Social Psychology Quarterly, 62, 347–366.CrossRef
Busenitz, L. W., & Barney, J. B. (1997). Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making. Journal of Business Venturing, 12(1), 9–30.CrossRef
Cardon, M. S., Wincent, J., Singh, J., & Drnovsek, M. (2009). The nature and experience of entrepreneurial passion. Academy of Management Review, 34, 511–532.CrossRef
Carsrud, A., & Brännback, M. (2011). Entrepreneurial motivations: what do we still need to know? Journal of Small Business Management, 49(1), 9–26.CrossRef
Carsrud, A., Brännback, M., Elfving, J., & Brandt, K. (2009). Motivations: The entrepreneurial mind and behavior. In Understanding the Entrepreneurial Mind (pp. 141–165). Springer. New York.
Carsrud, A. L., & Olm, K. W. (1986). The success of male and female entrepreneurs: a comparative analysis of the effects of multi-dimensional achievement motivation and personality traits,” in Managing Take-Off in Fast Growth Firms. Eds. R. Smilor and R. L. Kuhn. New York: Praeger, 147–162.
Carsrud, A. L., Olm, K. W., & Thomas, J. B. (1989). Predicting entrepreneurial success: effects of multi-dimensional achievement motivation, levels of ownership, and cooperative relationships. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 1(3), 237–244.CrossRef
Casson, M. C. (1982). The Entrepreneur: An Economic Theory. Oxford: Martin Robertson.
Chlosta, S., Patzelt, H., Klein, S. B., & Dormann, C. (2012). Parental role models and the decision to become self-employed: The moderating effect of personality. Small Business Economics, 38(1), 121–138.CrossRef
Corman, J., Perles, B., & Yancini, P. (1988). Motivational factors influencing high-technology entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business Management, 26(1), 36.
Côté, J. E. (1996). Sociological perspectives on identity formation: The culture–identity link and identity capital. Journal of Adolescence, 19(5), 417–428.CrossRef
Côte, J. E., & Levine, C. (1988). A critical examination of the ego identity status paradigm. Developmental Review, 8(2), 147–184.CrossRef
Down, S., & Warren, L. (2008). Constructing narratives of enterprise: clichés and entrepreneurial self-identity. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 14(1), 4–23.CrossRef
Dutton, J. E., Dukerich, J. M., & Harquail, C. V. (1994). Organizational images and member identification. Administrative Science Quarterly, 239–263.
Elsbach, K. D. (1999). An expanded model of organizational identification. Research in Organizational Behavior, 21, 163–200.
Erikson, E. H. (1994). Identity: Youth and crisis (No. 7). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Fauchart, E., & Gruber, M. (2011). Darwinians, communitarians, and missionaries: The role of founder identity in entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Journal, 54(5), 935–957.CrossRef
Fisher, G. (2012). Effectuation, causation, and bricolage: A behavioral comparison of emerging theories in entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(5), 1019–1051.CrossRef
Fry, F. L. (1993). Entrepreneurship: A Planning Approach. Eagan, MN West Group.
Fullagar, C. J., Gallagher, D. G., Gordon, M. E., & Clark, P. F. (1995). Impact of early socialization on union commitment and participation: A longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(1), 147.CrossRef
Grimes, M. G., McMullen, J. S., Vogus, T. J., & Miller, T. L. (2013). Studying the origins of social entrepreneurship: compassion and the role of embedded agency. Academy of Management Review, 38(3), 460–463.CrossRef
Grotevant, H. D., & Adams, G. R. (1984). Development of an objective measure to assess ego identity in adolescence: Validation and replication. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 13(5), 419–438.CrossRef
Harter, S. (1981). A new self-report scale of intrinsic versus extrinsic orientation in the classroom: Motivational and informational components. Developmental Psychology, 17(3), 300.CrossRef
Henderson, J. (2002). Building the rural economy with high-growth entrepreneurs. Economic Review-Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, 87(3), 45.
Herron, L., & Robinson, R. B. (1993). A structural model of the effects of entrepreneurial characteristics on venture performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 8(3), 281–294.CrossRef
Hogg, M. A., Terry, D. J., & White, K. M. (1995). A tale of two theories: A critical comparison of identity theory with social identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 58, 255–273.CrossRef
Ibarra, H. (1999). Provisional selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional adaptation. Administrative science quarterly, 44(4), 764–791.CrossRef
Ibarra, H. (2003). Working identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing your Career. Cambridge: Harvard Business Press.
Ibarra, H., & Barbulescu, R. (2010). Identity as narrative: Prevalence, effectiveness, and consequences of narrative identity work in macro work role transitions. Academy of Management Review, 35(1), 135–154.
Katz, J., & Gartner, W. B. (1988). Properties of emerging organizations. Academy of Management Review, 18(3), 429–442.CrossRef
Katz, R. (1980). Time and work: Toward an integrative perspective. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 81–127). Greenwich: JAI Press.
Kihlstrom, R. E., & Laffont, J. J. (1979). A general equilibrium entrepreneurial theory of firm formation based on risk aversion. Journal of Political Economy, 87(4), 719–748.CrossRef
Kirzner, I. M. (1985). Discovery and the Capitalist Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Knight, F. H. (1921). Cost of production and price over long and short periods. Journal of Political Economy, 29(4), 304–335.CrossRef
Van Knippenberg, D. (2000). Work motivation and performance: A social identity perspective. Applied Psychology, 49(3), 357–371.
Kolvereid, L. (1996). Prediction of employment status choice intentions. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 21(1), 47–58.
Kreft, S. F., & Sobel, R. S. (2005). Public policy, entrepreneurship, and economic freedom. Cato Journal, 25, 595.
Kreiner, G. E., Ashforth, B. E., & Sluss, D. M. (2006). Identity dynamics in occupational dirty work: Integrating social identity and system justification perspectives. Organization Science, 17(5), 619–636.CrossRef
Kuratko, D. F., Hornsby, J. S., & Naffziger, D. W. (1997). An examination of owner's goals in sustaining entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business Management, 35(1), 24.
Larkin, L. (1987). Identity and fear of success. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34(1), 38.CrossRef
Lichtenstein, G. A., & Lyons, T. S. (2001). The entrepreneurial development system: Transforming business talent and community economies. Economic Development Quarterly, 15(1), 3–20.CrossRef
Liles, P. R. (1974). New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur. Homewood: Irwin.
Lindquist, M. J., Sol, J., & Van Praag, M. (2015). Why do entrepreneurial parents have entrepreneurial children?. Journal of Labor Economics, 33(2), 269–296.
Lounsbury, M., & Glynn, M. A. (2001). Cultural entrepreneurship: stories, legitimacy, and the acquisition of resources. Strategic Management Journal, 22, 545–564.CrossRef
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954–969.CrossRef
McClelland, D. C. (1961). The Achieving Society. Princeton: D. Van Norstrand Company. Inc., 196l.
McMullen, J. S., & Shepherd, D. A. (2006). Entrepreneurial action and the role of uncertainty in the theory of the entrepreneur. Academy of Management Review, 31(1), 132–152.CrossRef
Mead, M. (1970). Culture and Commitment. Gardin City: Doubleday.
Miller, T. L., Grimes, M. G., McMullen, J. S., & Vogus, T. J. (2012). Venturing for others with heart and head: How compassion encourages social entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 616–640.CrossRef
Murnieks, C. Y., Mosakowski, E., & Cardon, M. S. (2014). Pathways of Passion: Identity Centrality, Passion, and Behavior Among Entrepreneurs. Journal of Management, 40(6), 1583–1606.CrossRef
Nicholson, N. (1984). A theory of work role transitions. Administrative Science Quarterly, 172–191.
Nicholson, L., & Anderson, A. R. (2005). News and nuances of the entrepreneurial myth and metaphor: Linguistic games in entrepreneurial sense-making and sense-giving. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(2), 153–172.CrossRef
Obodaru, O. (2012). The self not taken: How alternative selves develop and how they influence our professional lives. Academy of Management Review, 37(1), 34–57.
Penuel, W. R., & Wertsch, J. V. (1995). Dynamics of negation in the identity politics of cultural other and cultural self. Culture & Psychology, 1(3), 343–359.CrossRef
Powell, E. E., & Baker, T. (2014). It's what you make of it: Founder identity and enacting strategic responses to adversity. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1406–1433.CrossRef
Powell, E. E., & Baker, T. (2017). In the beginning: Identity processes and organizing in multi-founder nascent ventures. Academy of Management Journal, 60(6), 2381–2414.CrossRef
Pratt, M. G., & Foreman, P. O. (2000). Classifying managerial responses to multiple organizational identities. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 18–42.CrossRef
Pratt, M. G., Rockmann, K. W., & Kaufmann, J. B. (2006). Constructing professional identity: The role of work and identity learning cycles in the customization of identity among medical residents. Academy of Management Journal, 49(2), 235–262.CrossRef
Reynolds, P., Story, D. J., & Westhead, P. (1994). Cross-National Comparisons of the Variation in New Firm Formation Rates. Regional Studies, 28(4), 443–556.CrossRef
Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications, and theory, with chapters. Houghton Mifflin.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54–67.CrossRef
Saks, A. M., & Ashforth, B. E. (1997). Organizational socialization: Making sense of the past and present as a prologue for the future. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51(2), 234–279.CrossRef
Sarasvathy, S. D. (2001). Causation and effectuation: Toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 243–263.CrossRef
Schumpeter, J. A. (1934). The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Shane, S., Kolvereid, L., & Westhead, P. (1991). An exploratory examination of the reasons leading to new firm formation across country and gender. Journal of Business Venturing, 6(6), 431–446.CrossRef
Shane, S., Locke, E. A., & Collins, C. J. (2003). Entrepreneurial motivation. Human Resource Management Review, 13(2), 257–279.CrossRef
Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217–226.
Stets, J. E., & Burke, P. J. (2000). Identity theory and social identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, 224–237.CrossRef
Strube, M. J. (1990). In search of self: Balancing the good and the true. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16(4), 699–704.CrossRef
Stryker, S. (1980). Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Company.
Stuart, T., & Sorenson, O. (2003a). The geography of opportunity: spatial heterogeneity in founding rates and the performance of biotechnology firms. Research Policy, 32(2), 229–253.CrossRef
Stuart, T. E., & Ding, W. W. (2006). When do scientists become entrepreneurs? The social structural antecedents of commercial activity in the academic life sciences. American Journal of Sociology, 112(1), 97–144.CrossRef
Stuart, T. E., & Sorenson, O. (2003b). Liquidity events and the geographic distribution of entrepreneurial activity. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(2), 175–201.CrossRef
Sveningsson, S., & Alvesson, M. (2003). Managing managerial identities: Organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle. Human Relations, 56(10), 1163–1193.CrossRef
Swann, W. B. (1984). Quest for accuracy in person perception: A matter of pragmatics. Psychological Review, 91(4), 457.CrossRef
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations (pp. 33–47). Monterey: Brooks-Cole.
Timmons, J., & Spinelli, S. (1999). The Entrepreneurial Process. New venture creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century, 5, 27–51.
Trope, Y. (1986). Self-enhancement and self-assessment in achievement behavior. In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (pp. 350–378). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
Venkataraman, S. (1997). The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research: an editor’s perspective. In J. Katz & R. Brockhaus (Eds.), Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence, and Growth, vol. 3 (pp. 119–138). Greenwich: JAI Press.
Walter, S. G., & Heinrichs, S. (2015). Who becomes an entrepreneur? A 30-years-review of individual-level research. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 22(2), 225–248.CrossRef
Yost, J. H., & Strube, M. J. (1992). The construction of the self: An evolutionary view. Current Psychology, 11(2), 110–121.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Entrepreneurial motivation: a non-entrepreneur’s journey to become an entrepreneur
Authors
Raj V. Mahto
William C. McDowell
Publication date
07-04-2018
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal / Issue 3/2018
Print ISSN: 1554-7191
Electronic ISSN: 1555-1938
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-018-0513-8

Other articles of this Issue 3/2018

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal 3/2018 Go to the issue

OriginalPaper

Entrepreneurship: venture creation subprocesses, subdomains, and interfaces

EditorialNotes

Guest editor’s introduction: so what is entrepreneurship research?

OriginalPaper

Entrepreneurship by immigrants: a review of existing literature and directions for future research

OriginalPaper

Financial return crowdfunding: literature review and bibliometric analysis

OriginalPaper

Strategic entrepreneurship: Content, process, context, and outcomes

OriginalPaper

Theories of economic and social exchange in entrepreneurial partnerships: an agenda for future research

Premium Partner

    Image Credits