Contagion of Entrepreneurial Passion: Effects on Employee Outcomes

Abstract

This article analyzes the contagion process of entrepreneurial passion and its effects on employee outcomes. We develop a mediation model showing entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial passion affects an employee passion response, which in turn affects employee outcomes. We draw on a dual-process perspective to analyze how entrepreneurs’ emotional and identity displays interact to create employees’ perceptions of entrepreneurs’ passion, and question whether the contagion effect uniformly works for all employees. Our empirical studies, one field study and one experiment, provide empirical support for a contagion effect of entrepreneurial passion, and show the particularities of the effects of entrepreneurs’ passion on employee outcomes.