Time Investment in an Entrepreneurial Venture: The Effect of Past Time Invested, Venture Confidence, and Business Planning

Abstract

Entrepreneurship requires continued investment of time to build a successful venture. But how might we predict the amount of time an entrepreneur will invest in their venture? This research proposes that prior time invested, in conjunction with business plan usage and opportunity confidence, helps answer this question. Using data from a panel study of entrepreneurs in Australia, results show that most nascent entrepreneurs, on average, increased the time they invested in their ventures over the course of the study. However, the combination of actively using a business plan with high and moderate levels of venture confidence resulted in a decrease of time investment, as opposed to an increase when venture confidence was low. This may suggest that when supplemented by a business plan, the fear of failure motivates entrepreneurs to work harder towards achieving a goal, even when the perceived possibility of success is lower.