1. The Role of Positive and Negative Affect on Entrepreneurs' Entry and Exit Decisions.
- Author
-
Nikolaev, Boris and Shir, Nadav
- Abstract
A large body of research suggests that affect- moods, feelings and emotions -plays a fundamental role in cognition, motivation, task performance, and self-regulation. In this paper, using longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey from 2001 to 2014, we present three empirical tests for the relationship between positive and negative affect and entrepreneurs entry and exit decisions. We find that people who tend to experience more frequently negative emotions are more likely to start a business, but also significantly more likely to quit. Positive affectivity, on the other hand, decreases the probability of becoming self-employed but also substantially decreases the probability of quitting. One possible explanation is that people who experience negative emotions might be more inclined to seek entrepreneurship as a strategy to cope with unhappiness. Positive affectivity, on the other hand, makes people more creative, imaginative, cooperative, and less self-centered, which can facilitate opportunity recognition, acquisition of essential resources, and help cope with higher levels of stress, eventually leading to higher business success in the long-run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF