Fear of Failure and Entrepreneurship: A review and direction for future research

Gabriella Cacciotti () and James C. Hayton ()
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Gabriella Cacciotti: Warwick Business School
James C. Hayton: Warwick Business School

No 24, Research Papers from Enterprise Research Centre

Abstract: The impact of the experience of fear of failure on individual cognition and behaviour can be beneficial as well as detrimental. Despite this dualistic nature, in research on entrepreneurship, fear of failure is examined as only a barrier to entrepreneurial behaviour. A systematic review of the entrepreneurship literature on fear of failure published between 1994 and 2013 reveals a general lack of precision in the conceptualisation and operationalisation of this construct. Drawing on achievement motivation theories, the appraisal theory of emotions, and coping theories, we develop a deeper understanding of the fear of failure phenomena and identify the attributes relevant to studying fear of failure in entrepreneurship. We then address the conceptual issues related to fear of failure, and the role it may assume within the entrepreneurial process. We then propose an agenda for future research.

Keywords: fear of failure; entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial emotion; entrepreneurial cognition. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2014-08-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:enr:rpaper:0024

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