Beyond achievement: Entrepreneurship as extreme experience

    Authors

    M. Schindehutte; M. Morris;J. Allen

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Small Bus. Econ. Group

    Keywords

    entrepreneurship; flow; motivation; peak experience; peak performance; PEAK PERFORMANCE; FLOW; SUSCEPTIBILITY; QUESTIONNAIRE; VALIDATION; SCALE; FIELD; Business; Economics; Management

    Abstract

    How do entrepreneurs experience entrepreneurship, and what are the implications? The cognitive and emotional experiences of the entrepreneur as he/she performs the tasks associated with venture creation and high growth have received limited attention from researchers. The entrepreneurial context can be characterized in terms of peaks and valleys, or periods of relatively high pressure, stress, uncertainty, and ambiguity and periods of relative stability and predictability. Three inter-related psychological variables are investigated to determine their applicability in an entrepreneurial context: peak performance, peak experience, and flow. Results are reported of a series of in-depth, structured interviews conducted with two samples of entrepreneurs. Both qualitative and quantitative evidence is provided of the relevance of all three variables to entrepreneurs, with the highest scores for each variable demonstrated by entrepreneurs in high growth ventures. A number of implications are drawn for ongoing research and entrepreneurial practice, most notably in the area of entrepreneurial motivation. The findings suggest that entrepreneurship be approached as a vehicle for optimal human experiencing.

    Journal Title

    Small Business Economics

    Volume

    27

    Issue/Number

    4-5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2006

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    349

    Last Page

    368

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000242136600005

    ISSN

    0921-898X

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