Title

Beyond achievement: Entrepreneurship as extreme experience

Authors

Authors

M. Schindehutte; M. Morris;J. Allen

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

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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