Entrepreneurial identity and entrepreneurial action: A within-person field study

Abstract

Entrepreneurial action theory establishes that effective entrepreneurship requires daily action. Yet, empirical research on the daily antecedents of entrepreneurial action is relatively absent from the literature. We develop an entrepreneurial identity intervention and a theoretical model which integrates entrepreneurial identity theory with integrative self-control theory (ISCT). We theorize that an entrepreneurial identity intervention administered in the morning will increase entrepreneurial action throughout the day. Further, we develop and test hypotheses regarding two mediating pathways, a motivation-based pathway that relies on the felt passion of the entrepreneur and a control capacity-based pathway that is connected to the entrepreneur's cognitive flexibility. We conducted two studies to validate the effectiveness of our intervention (Studies 1a and 1b) and four studies to test the validity and effectiveness of our experimental materials and measures (Studies A1a, A1b, A1c, and 2a). Our main study investigates the daily antecedents and mechanisms of entrepreneurial action using a within-individual field experiment with 201 entrepreneurs (1458 daily observations). Overall, we find more within-person than between-person variance in entrepreneurial identity, daily action, and hypothesized meditators. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for the entrepreneurship and organizational behavior literatures.