Entrepreneurial role models, fear of failure, and institutional approval of entrepreneurship: A tale of two regions

Michael Wyrwich, Michael Stuetzer and Rolf Sternberg
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Michael Stützer

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Studies on the influence of entrepreneurial role models (peers) on the decision to start a firm ar-gue that entrepreneurial role models in the local environment (1) provide opportunities to learn about entrepreneurial tasks and capabilities, and (2) signal that entrepreneurship is a favorable career option thereby reducing uncertainty that potential entrepreneurs face. However, these studies remain silent about the role of institutional context for these mechanisms. Applying an ex-tended sender-receiver model, we hypothesize that observing entrepreneurs reduces fear of fail-ure in others in environments where approval of entrepreneurship is high while this effect is signif-icantly weaker in low approval environments. Taking advantage of the natural experiment from recent German history and using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Project (GEM), we find considerable support for our hypotheses.

Keywords: Fear of failure; role models; peer effect; entrepreneurial intentions; Global Entrepreneurship Mon-itor; East Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 L26 M13 P20 R23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-sbm and nep-ure
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (68)

Published in Small Business Economics 3.46(2016): pp. 467-492

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Journal Article: Entrepreneurial role models, fear of failure, and institutional approval of entrepreneurship: a tale of two regions (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:74241

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