Narcissism and learning from entrepreneurial failure

Yiran Liu, Yong Li, Xiling Hao and Yuli Zhang

Journal of Business Venturing, 2019, vol. 34, issue 3, 496-512

Abstract: Failure of a prior business provides an opportunity for an entrepreneur to learn in the subsequent entrepreneurial endeavor, but learning from failure is not guaranteed. Why do some entrepreneurs learn less from failure than others? In this study, we propose that a narcissistic personality can create cognitive and motivational obstacles to learning. We further posit that the inhibiting effect of narcissism will be more salient when the costs of failure, especially social costs, are higher. Our analysis with a survey sample of startups provides the initial empirical evidence about the negative impact of narcissism on learning from entrepreneurial failure. The study adds to research on learning from failure and narcissism in entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Learning from failure; Entrepreneurship; Narcissism; Failure costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:34:y:2019:i:3:p:496-512

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2019.01.003

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