Master of Business Administration (MSc): Entrepreneurship and innovation
Master Thesis
Entrepreneurial fear of failure: impact on well-being and coping strategies
Supervisor Dr. K. (Kevin) Curran Submitted by: Cristian Frigo
Student number: 13397001
E-mail Address: frigo1996@hotmail.it
Date June 22nd, 2021
"He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
This document is written by Cristian Frigo, who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in
the text and its references have been used in creating it.
The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the
contents.
Table of contents
ABSTRACT ... 4
INTRODUCTION ... 5
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ... 6
Fear of failure ... 6
Entrepreneurial mental well-being ... 8
Implications of fear of failure: effects on well-being ... 9
Coping strategies ... 10
Entrepreneurial passion ... 12
METHOD ... 14
Sample ... 14
Statistical procedure and conditions ... 16
Measures ... 16
RESULTS ... 18
Preliminary analysis ... 18
Main effect ... 19
Supplemental analysis ... 23
DISCUSSION ... 24
Theoretical contribution ... 24
Practical implications ... 25
Limitations and future outlook ... 26
CONCLUSION ... 27
REFERENCES ... 28
Journal sources ... 28
APPENDIX ... 33
Appendix a: survey questionnaire ... 33
Appendix b: data analysis ... 36
ABSTRACT
Fear of failure plays a fundamental role in the entrepreneurial experience. The amount of research on the topic has been increasing over the past years, showing, in particular, that the construct can represent both a motivating as well as an inhibitor factor for the entrepreneurial related actions. However, the relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well-being is still understudied. Also, the consequences that this has on several venture’s success factors are not yet understood.
This thesis aims at better understanding the role of entrepreneurial fear of failure in a dynamic context and its effects of mental well-being. The study focuses also on explaining which and to what extent coping strategies and entrepreneurial passion variables can moderate the relationship between fear to fail and well-being levels. This has been done by analyzing the questionnaire responses of 43 entrepreneurs collected over a three-week longitudinal study.
Even though the results do not show a significant variation of fear of failure across waves, the analysis revealed an overall negative relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well-being. Further, it has been found that harmonious passion plays an important role in entrepreneurship, as it exhibits a significant moderation effect on the negative relationship between the two variables. The study reveals also that coping strategies have different moderation effects; positive reframing and active coping inhibit the negative consequences of fear of failure, while denial exhibits negative effects on well-being.
KEYWORDS: fear of failure, coping, passion, well-being, entrepreneurship.
INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is a highly dynamic journey (Mcmullen & Dimov, 2013), which involves risk, uncertainty, autonomy, great work effort, and involves the experience of frequent and high levels emotions for the entrepreneur related to their venture (Patzelt & Shepherd, 2011; Buttner, 1992; Uy et al., 2013; Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015). Fear of failure, in particular, represents a crucial element of the entrepreneurial experience (Cacciotti et al., 2020; Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015; Cacciotti et al., 2016; Mitchell & Shepherd, 2010), as it imposes crucial consequences on the founders and their companies. From the business perspective, for example, fear of failure can lead to the inhibition of the entrepreneurs’ ability to perceive a new venture as opportunity (Li, 2011), to decide to start a new business (Arenius & Minniti, 2005), to take initiatives (Hahn et al., 2012) and even to perform well (Uy et al., 2013). Even if sometimes it can represent a positive motivating factor for the entrepreneur (Cacciotti et al., 2016), from the psychological perspective, fear of failure is often mentioned for its detrimental effects on the individuals; past research found, in fact, that fear to fail can increase negative cognition and affect (Sagar et al., 2009), which, in turn, intensifies emotions such as stress, fear and anxiety (Cacciotti et al., 2016; Hayton et al., 2013; Sagar, et al., 2009). Those feelings are found to have ultimately negative repercussions on the individual well-being level (Diener, 2000; Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015; Hayton et al., 2013).
Despite its high relevance, the day-to-day management of this fear is still little understood (Uy et al., 2013), and even the relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and well-being is still understudied (Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015). In particular, entrepreneurship theory provides limited and unstructured insights on the ways in which one can limit the negative effects shaped by fear of failure (Patzelt & Shepherd, 2011; Uy et al., 2013), as most of the studies analyze people that exhibit already pathological problems or that are in an environment that is not representative of the ordinary daily stressful events (Folkman &
Lazarus, 1980). It is, therefore, important to better understand how it is possible, in the normal life circumstances, to make a correct use of coping strategies to promote well-being levels by effectively managing the stress levels that are resulting from fear of failure (Billings & Moos, 1981), since well-being has ultimately a crucial impact also on the entrepreneurial venture related outcomes (Patzelt & Shepherd, 2011).
The present thesis is thus aimed at studying the relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well-being; this is done by analyzing 43 entrepreneurs over 3 consecutive weeks. Further, the thesis aims at analyzing if and to what extent entrepreneurial
passion and selected coping strategies can moderate the relationship between fear of failure and well-being. Thus, the research questions covered in this study are the following:
1. How does entrepreneurial fear of failure affect mental well-being in a dynamic context?
2. What is the role of entrepreneurial passion in moderating the relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well-being?
3. Which coping strategies are more effective for moderating the effect of entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well-being?
This study aims to make empirical contributions, by bringing different measures, which have been developed in separate research fields, together in a single model. The analysis shows the detrimental effects that fear of failure has on the entrepreneurial mental well-being. Further, the study empirically demonstrates the crucial role played especially by harmonious passion in significantly moderating the relationship between the two constructs. Finally, the results of the analysis show that different coping strategies can have different moderating effects on the relationship between fear of failure and well-being. Positive reframing and active coping have, in particular, a positive moderating effect, while denial intensifies the negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being.
The remaining part of the thesis is structured as follows: first, I will introduce the literature research findings on the topic of fear of failure, entrepreneurial well-being, and coping, both from psychological and entrepreneurial academic papers, and derive the hypotheses to be tested. Afterwards, I present the method used to achieve the study objectives, discussing the data collection process and the research ethics used. Further, I will present the study results and discuss the main implications of the analysis. I will conclude by defining the practical implications, study limitations, the suggestions for future research and final remarks.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Fear of failure
In the business environment, the entrepreneur is often represented as someone who is enthusiastic, energetic, resilient, ambitious and passionate (Cardon, 2009) and as someone who can inspire others and encourage others to succeed (Wyrwich et al., 2016). In reality, entrepreneurship, provided its exceptional dynamic nature (Mcmullen & Dimov, 2013), involves risk, uncertainty, autonomy, great work effort (Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015) and the
& Marsh, 2003; Patzelt & Shepherd, 2011) including fear to fail (Baron, 2008; Patzelt and Shephers, 2011; Buttner, 1992; Uy et al., 2013).
Fear of failure has been regarded as a crucial aspect for the entrepreneurial experience (Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015; Cacciotti et al., 2020, 2016; Mitchell & Shepherd, 2010) and this is reflected in the increasing number of studies analyzing the construct over the last years (e.g.
Arenius & Minniti, 2005; Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015). However, there are still controversial opinions regarding the definition of such construct (Cacciotti et al., 2016), its main effects on individual well-being levels and the managerial strategies that could be adopted to overcome its negative consequences (Uy et al., 2013).
According to previous studies taking a personological perspective, that is, a systematic comprehensive analysis of the individuals, fear of failure is defined as a stable construct that is dependent on fixed idiosyncratic personal characteristics related to one’s level of risk aversion.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, this implies that the individual disposition to avoid failure is directly associated with propension to start a new venture (Arenius & Minniti, 2005) and this can significantly vary across people. Studies following this perspective are in line with achievement motivation theories, which suggest that people who exhibit strong achievement motives are more prone to chase activities with moderate risk levels, while those having high avoidance motive levels are more inclined to undergo low risk related activities.
Other studies analyzing fear to fail from a motivational perspective (Cacciotti &
Hayton, 2015) regard the construct not as an innate disposition of the individual, but rather as an emotion that results from the appraisal of specific external threats to the individual capability to achieve one or more personal goals; this appraisal is then related to specific temporal behavioral and psychological responses (Conroy et al., 2002; Lazarus, 1991). Under this view, entrepreneurs experience fear of failure as a reaction to the perceived potential negative consequences of failing (Conroy et al., 2002; Sagar et al., 2009), such as experiencing emotions of shame and embarrassment, “devaluating one’s self-estimate, having an uncertain future, important others losing interest, and upsetting important others” (Conroy et al., 2002, p. 76).
From a temporal perspective, past entrepreneurship research adopted a simplistic view in defining fear of failure; in fact, the construct was represented only by the fear that one’s business may fail (Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015). Recently, the entrepreneurial fear of failure has undergone a reconceptualization process, leading to a definition that includes cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions that affect the entrepreneurial experience at different points in time (Cacciotti et al., 2016). Under this recent view, fear of failure is not limited to the worry that the venture may collapse, but it incorporates other sources of fear around “financial
security, personal ability, ability to finance the venture, potential of the idea, social esteem, venture’s ability to execute and opportunity costs” (Cacciotti et al., 2016, p. 310); this reconceptualization further emphasizes the fact that social context plays also a critical role in promoting such fear, which makes the entrepreneur associate the act of failing with a shameful personal experience (Hessels et al., 2011). Overall, recent research on the topic has acknowledged the dynamic and complex multidimensional state of fear of failure. In particular, fear of failure has been newly defined as “a negative affective reaction based in cognitive appraisals of the potential for failure in the uncertain and ambiguous performative context of entrepreneurship” (Cacciotti et al., 2020, p. 1).
Entrepreneurial mental well-being
Guaranteeing a sufficient level of mental well-being in the entrepreneurial environment is crucial, not only because it has implications on the founder’s quality of life and joy, but also because its state can eventually determine the venture’s success rate and the ability of the entrepreneur to persist in face of obstacles by being more creative and open to problem solving (Hahn et al., 2012; Uy et al., 2013).
Despite the recent growing interest in analyzing well-being in the entrepreneurial settings, research on the topic has not yet come to an agreed definition of the construct. Ryan and Reci (2001, p.141), for instance, have referred to well-being as “a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning”.
Previous research on well-being can be clustered into two groups, based on the dimensions adopted in the definition of the construct: one focusing on one’s happiness levels called hedonic well-being and the other concerning the human potential, named eudaimonic well-being (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Those two dimensions have been also referred as subjective and psychological well-being, respectively (Keyes et al., 2002).
Subjective well-being refers to the individuals’ affective and cognitive evaluations of their own lives. It is related to the balance between positive and negative emotions and can be compared to the level of pleasure and happiness (Diener, 2000). Under this view, positive and long term emotional states exhibit a positive influence on the entrepreneurial activities, while the negative emotions increase attention towards risk and inhibit entrepreneurial action (Baron, 2008; Welpe et al., 2012).
Psychological well-being, which is comparable to mental health, is related to aspects that go beyond happiness (Ryan & Deci, 2001) and include purpose in life and self-realization
determining, among other things, the effective management of the business in the entrepreneurial settings (Uy et al., 2013), since it has various effects on the individual, ranging from an alteration in mood and affect to significant changes in mental health through chronic anxiety and even clinical depression levels (Edwards, 1992).
In general, both types of well-being, although often overlapping, can define the optimal level of the individual well-being (Keyes et al., 2002). However, their level of impact might be different depending on the context; for instance, it has been found that hedonic well-being alone is not sufficient to promote personal initiatives, while feeling fully alive, thus having high levels of eudemonic well-being levels, is a sufficient condition for promoting a personal initiative (Hahn et al., 2012). Given the high importance of the construct, researchers in emotion regulations have found several strategies to reach optimal well-being levels:
generating a genuine excitement and interest towards an activity through the stimulation of the individual intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2001), having a work and life satisfaction or having an efficient management of negative emotions in place (Gross & John, 2003), represent just some examples.
Implications of fear of failure: effects on well-being
Research on fear of failure shows contrasting results regarding the effects that such fear has on the entrepreneurs and their ventures. Martin and Marsh (2003), for instance, described fear of failure as both a friend and a foe.
On the one hand, fear to fail represents a positive motivational source that can lead to an increase in entrepreneurial outcome (Cacciotti et al., 2016; Martin & Marsh, 2003), and to increased attention towards cues in the external environment (Forgas, 2008). This view is consistent with the achievement motivation theory perspective previously mentioned, as it shows that the individual may undertake additional sacrifices to avoid failure and pursue success (Elliot & Church, 1997).
On the other hand, however, fear of failure is often mentioned for its various negative consequences on the individuals (Li, 2011; Welpe et al., 2012), ranging from the inhibition of behavior and avoidance focus, to the negative influence on skills such as judgment, negotiation and social relations (Hayton & Cholakova, 2012), which have, in the entrepreneurial settings, detrimental consequences not only on the founder decision to start a new venture (Arenius &
Minniti, 2005; Sandhu et al., 2011; Welpe et al., 2012) but also on the opportunity recognition, social networks development, resource acquisition abilities and even venture performance (Baron, 2008; Hahn et al., 2012; Li, 2011; Uy et al., 2013).
In particular, past research on the topic has found, that the construct negatively influences the individual level of affect and cognition, and that represents especially a source of psychological stress (Sagar et al., 2009; Cacciotti et al., 2016; Gustafsson et al., 2017;
Conroy et al., 2001), which results from the fact that the individual appraises a certain situation as threatening and challenging (Lazarus, 1991).
Stress, in turn, is found to have various detrimental effects on psychological aspects of the individuals; when stress is not properly managed, in fact, can negatively influences psychological well-being (Edwards, 1988).
Provided that, especially entrepreneurs, who have to act in a highly uncertain, pressing and continuously evolving environment, seem to be exposed to fear of failure (Baron, 2008;
Hayton & Cholakova, 2012; Mcmullen & Dimov, 2013), and provided the empirical support of previous studies about the negative influence of fear of failure on well-being (Cacciotti &
Hayton, 2015; Cacciotti et al., 2016; Diener, 2000; Hayton et al., 2013; Martin & Marsh, 2003;
Sagar et al., 2009), the following first hypothesis is presented:
H1: There is a negative relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well- being.
Coping strategies
Provided that emotions, such as fear of failure, are not always helpful, it is important to understand how and to what extent they can be regulated (Gross, 1999); the successful management of emotions can, in fact, help individuals to reduce the intensity of these emotions and avoid that they become chronic (Berking et al., 2012). Human behavior is not only regulated by the external outcomes, but also by the ongoing exert of self-influence: this implies that individuals have internal abilities to control their actions, emotions and thoughts (Bandura, 1991).
Coping is a particular form of emotion regulation (Uy et al., 2013) and is defined as the set of “thoughts and behaviors used to manage internal and external demands of situations that are appraised as stressful” (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004, p.1). Coping usually takes place, in particular, directly after the cognitive appraisal of the stressful process (Mckee-ryan, Song, Wanberg, & Kinicki, 2005) and represents the response to the perceived threatful event (Billings & Moos, 1981). Furthermore, it enables the individuals to better manage the negative emotions that emerge when critical individual goals are endangered (Folkman & Lazarus,
1980), thus playing a crucial role in the level of effectiveness in which people respond to stress (Billings & Moos, 1981).
Although there are different coping strategies that can be used for managing adversity in life and stressful events (Carver et al., 1989), two main types of coping strategies have been identified in research: problem or active and emotion or avoidance focused coping (Folkman
& Lazarus, 1984; Uy et al., 2013).
The first coping strategy involves acting directly, through cognitive or behavioral actions (Uy et al., 2013) on the issue or event that is generating distress; focusing on the clear next steps that are required to solving the problem, trying to look at the bright side of things and considering alternative options (Billings & Moos, 1981): these are just some examples representing problem-focused coping. Through this coping strategy, individuals deal with the stressor at its core, generating positive affect and enhancing the well-being (Carver et al., 1989;
Sagar et al., 2009).
The second coping strategy is used with the goal to deal with the negative emotions that arise with the problem and is usually implemented when one thinks that it is not possible to diminish the problematic source of distress at its origin (Sagar et al., 2009). Emotion-focused coping strategy falls under the emotion regulation strategies (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004) and often involves the engagement in distracting and problem avoidance activities such as assuming drugs, eating more, looking for emotional help from others or simply taking temporary distance from the activity which creates the issue (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004;
Billings & Moos, 1981).
In general, it has been found that problem focused coping predominates when the individual feels that something can still be done to solve the stress related problem, while emotion-focused coping tends to endure when one acknowledges that the stressful situation will persist over time (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980).
It is worth noting that coping strategies, however, are not mutually exclusive, meaning that more coping strategies can be deployed simultaneously (Carver & Scheier, 1994; Uy et al., 2013) and can change over time (Sagar et al., 2009). It is, in fact, argued that coping is efficiently implemented when different measures are used depending on the idiosyncratic environment and situation that is created by the relationship between the individual and the environment (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004).
In general, the effective use of emotion regulation has important implications on the individual’s health, as it helps, for instance, improve life satisfaction (Gross & John, 2003), balance positive and negative emotions and thus protect against psycho-pathological symptoms
(Berking et al., 2012). Recalling that fear of failure leads to increased stress levels, and these have ultimately detrimental effects on the individual mental health, coping has been found in previous studies to represent a means to reduce such negative consequences (Edwards, 1988).
In particular, coping can positively influence well-being by directly impacting the sources of stress, thus altering the desires, perceptions and level of importance associated with the stressful state; the good news is that the individual ability to cope in stressful and difficult situations has been found to be not a trait, but rather a skill that can be learned and practiced through cognitive-behavioral sessions (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004). Entrepreneurial research confirms that coping represents a crucial element needed in the entrepreneurial landscape (Uy et al., 2013), as it helps improve not only the individual well-being (Endler &
Parker, 1990; Uy et al., 2013; Lazarus and Folkman 1984) but also venture related activities, such as the likelihood to start a venture (Patzelt & Shepherd, 2011).
Provided the importance of coping in mitigating the negative effects of fear of failure and in improving well-being, helping especially entrepreneurs to enhance their self-efficacy (Mosakowski et al., 2014), the following hypothesis is introduced:
H2: The negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being is moderated by several coping strategies. Increased levels of coping weaken the relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental bell-being.
Entrepreneurial passion
Not only do different coping strategies play a crucial role in moderating the negative effect resulting from fear of failure while improving entrepreneurial well-being; also passion represents another key influencing factor worth being analyzed.
Passion is, in fact, a fundamental element in the entrepreneurial dynamic, since it is deeply present in the venture environment (Cardon et al., 2013). It also represents an effective emotional tool to cope with entrepreneurial challenges and help the founders enhance their own level of self-efficacy (Murnieks et al., 2014) and achieve their goals (Cardon et al., 2009).
Passion has been defined as the “consciously accessible, intense positive feelings experienced by engagement in entrepreneurial activities associated with roles that are meaningful and salient to the self-identity of the entrepreneur” (Cardon et al., 2009 p. 515).
Passion, is, thus, a coping facilitator (Cardon et al., 2009) that equips the entrepreneur with high levels of motivational energy, thanks to the experience of high enduring positive affect and the perceived highly meaningful activities in which the founders decide to engage in (ibid.).
Studies showed, in fact, that entrepreneurial passion makes the founders better persist when facing obstacles (Bierly et al., 2000) and face less, and in a lower frequency, negative consequences of the entrepreneurial fear of failure (J. Hayton et al., 2013; Lucidi et al., 2016).
However, research on this field has found that passion does not always represent a beneficial source for the entrepreneurs. In fact, the extent to which the construct has a positive effect on the individual depends on the type of passion that is triggered: harmonious or obsessive (Vallerand et al., 2003). Recalling that subjective well-being is composed by sum of positive and negative emotions, promoting the right type of passion is essential for guaranteeing a positive emotional state.
When entrepreneurs have harmonious passion, it means that they have a genuine attachment to the activity they are engaged in, which is generated by the individual autonomous and conscious decision to commit in such activity without the influence of external contingencies (Ibid.). Having a harmonious passion implies that the individual has complete control over the activity and is in balance with other aspects of life, meaning that the individual identity is not compromised (Ibid.). This form of passion is thus considered as healthy (Bélanger et al., 2013) and has been found to be effective for the founder to persist in the presence of obstacles (Vallerand et al., 2003) and to cope with the fear of failure (Bélanger et al., 2013; Lucidi et al., 2016). In fact, it can promote well-being levels through the increase in positive affect and the decrease in negative states such as pressure and anxiety (Diener, 2000;
Vallerand et al., 2003), thus offsetting the detrimental consequences of stress resulting from the fear to fail (Jeffrey R. Edwards, 1988; J. Hayton et al., 2013; Vallerand et al., 2003). Hence, the following hypothesis is formulated:
H3a: The negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being is moderated by harmonious passion: increased levels of harmonious passion weaken the relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and well-being.
On the other hand, obsessive passion is defined as a deleterious source for the individual (Vallerand et al., 2003). In fact, this type of passion is generated from external factors and not from an internal autonomous decision to commit towards a certain activity; obsessive passion can, for instance, originate from social acceptance pressures or from an incontrollable sense of over-excitement towards an activity, leading to an increase in perceived internal pressures on the individual (ibid.). Also, such passion is not under the individual control and is likely to influence the person identity by leading to an increase in negative affect, which, as a
consequence, deteriorates well-being levels (Diener, 2000) and makes the entrepreneurs more prone to experience fear of failure in the future (Lucidi et al., 2016). This eventually leads to a consequent increase in stress level and thus to an even further decrease in well-being state.
Thus:
H3b: The negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being is moderated by obsessive passion: increased levels of obsessive passion strengthen the negative relationship between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well-being.
Figure 1: Conceptual Model
METHOD
Sample
The sample of this study is represented by entrepreneurs from different stages, nationalities, ages, who are managing startups/businesses from different industries. Prior to the research, 70 selected entrepreneurs have been approached, informed about the study and asked to participate anonymously. In order to minimize the response loss typical of longitudinal studies, a sufficient relationship with the respondents has been established to secure their
and, as Table 1 shows, the final number of respondents amounted to 43 for the first wave, 34 for the second and 32 for the final wave.
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics
Waves N
Number of
respondents Wave1 43
Wave2 34
Wave3 32
Total 109
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
Table 2 presents the demographic information of the respondents for the study. Of the 43 respondents, 32 were male (74.4%) and 10 were female (23.3%). Most of the respondents stated to have a Master degree (53.5%), and to be full time self-employed individuals (69.8%).
Further, most of the participants showed to have more than 10 years of job experience (65.1%), while only 9 of them showed to have limited work background. The average age of the participants for the study is 37 years with a standard deviation value of 8.5.
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics
Variables Categories Frequency Percentage
Gender Male 32 74.4
Female 10 23.3
Prefer not to Say 1 2.3
Total 43 100
Educational
Qualification High School Diploma 2 4.7
Bachelor Degree 9 20.9
Master Degree 23 53.5
PhD / Higher 9 20.9
Total 43 100
Occupation Student (Part Time) 2 4.7
Full Time (Job Employed) 11 25.6
Full Time (Self-Employed) 30 69.8
Total 43 100
Work Experience 0-2years 4 9.3
3-5years 5 11.6
5-10years 6 14.0
More than 10years 28 65.1
Total 43 100
Age Mean 37.19
Standard Deviation 8.506
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
Statistical procedure and conditions
The study is based on a longitudinal quantitative research design and takes a deductive approach. In particular, the research involves the analysis of data gathered from the same set of subjects over three waves. The research utilizes a self-completion questionnaire in English as primary quantitative data collection. More specifically, the study makes use of a Web questionnaire developed through the online survey tool Qualtrics. Starting from April 26th 2021, every Monday, the respondents were provided with the anonymous link of the survey, and, each Wednesday, a reminder email was sent to the participants with the aim to increase the response rate. After data collection, the data were sorted before being analyzed and the missing values observed from the responses from each wave were consequently excluded to provide a more meaningful analysis. Overall, a timing limitation of the study has been acknowledged: this was represented by the fact that the data were collected over three consecutive weeks, meaning that only one week was separating each wave. This implies that running a panel study could have led to uninteresting results with an insufficient variability of the data across waves. For this reason, it has been decided to analyze the data cross-sectionally by averaging the data of each variable for each wave, thus still guaranteeing a more robust measure when compared to a normal cross-sectional study set-up. The supplemental analysis of the fear of failure variable provided at the end of the results section demonstrates, that indeed there is no statistical difference across waves for such construct, thus supporting the choice of analyzing the data cross-sectionally.
Measures
Here below the measurement of each variable is reported. It is worth noting that the questions taken from previous studies have been partly adapted both to reflect the entrepreneurial context of the study and the longitudinal nature of the research. Appendix A provides the detailed questions overview of the questionnaire.
Fear of Failure is measured using the Cacciotti et al. (2020) scale, which has been adapted using 7 point scales as recommended by the researchers. The questions have been further changed to reflect a weekly basis of the study, by asking the respondents to answer the questions by focusing on what happened in their lives over the previous week. The construct of Cacciotti et al. (2020) exhibits acceptable levels of reliability for each dimension (minimum α = 0.75, maximum α = 0.93) and entails 21 items that describe different sources of fear of failure that go beyond the mere failure of the business, thus covering the following areas:
costs, ability to fund the venture and venture’s capacity to execute (Cacciotti et al, 2020). One example of item included in the questionnaire was represented by the question: “over the past week, I have been afraid of not getting enough funding to move the company forward”. It is worth noting that the newly developed scale of fear of failure of Cacciotti and colleagues aims at measuring fear of failure in the performative context of entrepreneurship, and, through its multidimensional structure, is aimed at taking into consideration the dynamic nature of entrepreneurship.
Psychological Well-being has been measured using the Diener et al. (2010) 8-item Flourishing Scale using 7 point scales. The Flourishing Scale, previously referred as psychological well-being, measures critical elements of human functioning, ranging “from positive relationships to feelings of competence, to having meaning and purpose in life”
(Diener et al., 2010, p.146). The scale developed by Diener and colleagues exhibits acceptable levels of reliability (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87) and strongly correlates with other psychological well-being scales. The scale includes positive framed statements such as “I lead a purposeful and meaningful life” or “I am competent and capable in the activities that are important to me”.
Coping Strategies have been measured using the Carver (1997) COPE inventory. In particular, in order to optimize the participant’s involvement, it has been decided to use the Brief COPE measure, which includes only 28 instead of 60 items that were originally included in study of Carver et al. (1989). All 28 items measuring 14 different coping strategies meet or exceeded the minimal acceptable reliability level of 0.50 (minimum α = 0.50, maximum α = 0.90). Participants were asked to rate on a scale from (1) “never” to (5) “very often” the frequency in which they have engaged in certain actions, described by the single items. (E.g.
I’ve been concentrating my efforts on doing something about the situation I am in).
Harmonious and Obsessive Passion have been measured using the Vallerand et al.
(2003) 14 scale items. Each variable was measured by 7 items respectively. All scale items showed adequate level of reliability (minimum α = 0.44, maximum α = 0.87) and the participants were asked to assess the degree to which they agreed on the statements represented by the single items (from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree”). (E.g.
Entrepreneurship allows me to live a variety of experiences). This measurement was used also in previous studies analyzing passion (e.g. Lucidi et al., 2016).
Control Variables have been added to enhance internal validity of the study. In particular, past research found that levels of fear of failure decreased over time due to learning effects (Cacciotti et al., 2016). For this reason, variables measuring age and work/entrepreneurial experience were included. Past research also found that perception of fear
of failure and psychological outcomes could vary depending on gender (e.g. Minniti &
Nardone, 2007); therefore, it has been asked and controlled for gender differences. Further, to ensure that the entrepreneurs were all active entrepreneurs during the study, a control variable asking for current employment status has been included. Moreover, given that well-being can be influenced by various life aspects (Diener, 2000), a control variable measuring the overall life satisfaction was included. Overall, those control variables have been placed at the beginning of the questionnaire as they are in general perceived as neutral and easy to answer.
Lastly, provided the special importance to maintain anonymity and confidentiality in this study, and, in order to link individual responses across the multiple waves, the participants have been asked to add at the end of each questionnaire a self-generated identification code (SGIC) (Vacek et al., 2017).
RESULTS
Preliminary analysis
Table 3 summarizes all the Cronbach Alpha values for all the tested variables. Since Cronbach values are all above 0.7, the datasets shown to be reliable for further data analysis.
Table 3: Cronbach Reliability Results
Variables Number of
Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Remarks
Fear of Failure 21 0.910 Excellent
Psychological Well-being 8 0.832 Good
Harmonious Passion 7 0.737 Acceptable
Obsessive Passion 7 0.880 Good
Coping Strategies 28 0.875 Good
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
Further, normality test was conducted using Kolmogorov-Smirnovand Shapiro-Wilk test statistics to eliminate the possibility of getting spurious results. Based on the p-values obtained from the analysis, which are reported in Table 4, it followed that the dataset is normally distributed. Thus, further analysis of the data has been carried out using non- parametric statistical techniques.
Table 4: Normality Test Results
Variables Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Shapiro-Wilk Test
Significant Items Significant Items
Fear of Failure 22/22 22/22
Psychological Well-being 8/8 8/8
Harmonious Passion 7/7 7/7
Obsessive Passion 7/7 7/7
Coping Strategies 28/28 28/28
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
To ensure discriminant validity of the constructs used in the study, Spearman rank test has been deployed for each variable of the study. For the variables fear of failure and coping, multicollinearity issues have been identified, and solved by excluding selected items (for the variable fear of failure, items 2, 3 and 5 have been dropped; for the variable coping strategies, item 16 has been removed). Tables A-J in Appendix B report the correlation tests for all the variables.
Main effect
Hypothesis 1 predicted that entrepreneurial fear of failure will be negatively related to well- being of the founders. Table 5 summarizes the results of the regression analysis. The variable fear of failure exhibits a significant negative relationship with well-being (β = -0.92, p = 0.00).
This suggests that an increase in fear of failure has a negative relationship with entrepreneurial well-being: thus, hypothesis 1 is supported.
Hypothesis 2 predicted that coping strategies will moderate the negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being. As the table 5 shows, active coping, engaging in positive reframing, accepting and facing ill outcomes in business, seeking comfort from religious beliefs, seeking distraction from negative outcomes of business and venting of emotions represent coping strategies that moderate the negative relationship between fear and well-being among entrepreneurs. Albeit only active coping (β = 0.06, p = 0.02) and positive reframing (β
= 0.04, p = 0.04) exhibit a significance effect. This suggests that, looking at the bright side of things and actively looking for a solution for problems, help overcome the negative consequences of fear of failure on well-being. Figures 2 and 3 represent the interaction of fear of failure with positive reframing and active coping. The diagrams show that there is a close interaction between the variables. In particular, this occurs when there is high level of fear and high level of positive reframing and when both levels of fear of failure and active coping are
at their extremes. Overall, for the items exhibiting statistical significance mentioned above, hypothesis 2 is supported.
Figure 2: Interaction between Fear of Failure and Positive Reframing
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
Figure 3: Interaction between Fear of Failure and Active Coping
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
Interestingly, the coping items representing planning, emotional support, denial, substance use, behavioural disengagement and self-blame strengthen the negative relationship between fear and well-being. However, only denial (β = -0.08, p = 0.02) shows statistical significance. This suggests that by refusing to believe that a certain stressful event never happened or by thinking that the experience creating stress is not real, the negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being gets even worse. Overall, for the items mentioned above, hypothesis 2 is rejected.
Hyphothesis 3a predicted that harmonious passion will moderate the negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being. As it can be seen in the table 5, the variable represented by harmonious passion significantly moderates the negative relationship between
1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4,5 5
Low fear High fear
well-being Low Positive
Reframing High Positive Reframing
1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4,5 5
Low Fear High Fear
well-being
Low Active Coping High Active Coping
fear of failure and well-being (β = 0.10, p = 0.00). This implies that, when entrepreneurs have high levels of harmonious passion, they tend to better cope with the negative effects of fear to fail. Thus, hypothesis 3a is supported. Figure 4 exhibits the interaction between fear and harmonious passion and shows that the interaction between both variables occurs when there is high level of fear of failure and high level of harmonious passion.
Figure 4: Interaction between Fear and Harmonious Passion
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
Hyphothesis 3b predicted that obsessive passion will intensify the negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being. The regression results from table 5 show, however, that obsessive passion moderates the negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being (β = 0.02). Nevertheless, there is not enough statistical significance in support of this result as its p-value amounts to 0.23.
Table 5: Regression Analysis
Well-being
Fear of Failure -0.92***
(0.20) [0.00]
Moderating Harmonious Passion 0.10**
(0.03) [0.00]
Moderating Obsessive Passion 0.02
(0.01) [0.23]
Moderating Active Coping 0.06*
(0.02) 1
1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4,5 5
Low fear High fear
well-being
Low Harmonious Passion
High Harmonious Passion
[0.02]
Moderating Planning -0.02
(0.02) [0.39]
Moderating Positive Reframing 0.04*
(0.02) [0.04]
Moderating Acceptance 0.02
(0.02) [0.32]
Moderating Humor 0.00
(0.02) [0.93]
Moderating Religion 0.03
(0.02) [0.13]
Moderating Emotional Support -0.04
(0.02) [0.06]
Moderating Instrumental Support 0.00
(0.02) [0.91]
Moderating Self-Distraction 0.04
(0.02) [0.11]
Moderating Denial -0.08*
(0.03) [0.02]
Moderating Venting 0.01
(0.02) [0.70]
Moderating Substance Use -0.01
(0.02) [0.49]
Moderating Behaviour Disengagement -0.01
(0.03)
Moderating Self-blame -0.01 (0.02) [0.54]
Constant 6.48***
(0.18) [0.00]
N 109
Prob > F 0.000
R2 0.467
adj. R2 0.367
Standard errors in (), P-values in []
***p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.01
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
Supplemental analysis
Table 6 reports the mean rank values for the fear of failure variable across the entire period of study. In particular, mean rank value of wave 1 (63.98) exhibits a higher number compared to wave 2 (49.31) and wave 3 (48.98). This suggests that, at the beginning of the study, participants showed a higher perception of fear to fail. However, an additional statistical test was conducted using the Kruskal-Wallis statistic to see if there is significant difference in the mean rank values over the course of the study. Table 7 reports the results for the test statistics and shows that, at 95% confidence level, the p-value is not statistically significant, suggesting that fear of failure does not significantly vary over the three weeks study.
Table 6: Ranks Scores
Waves N Mean Rank
Fear of Failure Wave1 43 63.98
Wave2 34 49.31
Wave3 32 48.98
Total 109
Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25 Table 7: Test Statistics
Personal Fear
Kruskal-Wallis H 5.732
Df 2
Asymp. Sig. .057
a. Kruskal Wallis Test
b. Grouping Variable: Groups of Respondents 109 Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 25
DISCUSSION
Theoretical contribution
The present thesis aims at analyzing the relation between entrepreneurial fear of failure and mental well-being in a dynamic setting. A particular focus has been posed on understanding the role played by passion and selected coping strategies in moderating the main relationship between the two variables. This study brings several important contributions.
Firstly, the study builds on the newly developed measurement of fear of failure of Cacciotti et al., (2020). Three items out of twenty-one had to be removed from the analysis in order to guarantee internal validity. However, in general, considered the limited number of items dropped, the study demonstrates that the reconceptualization of the construct of fear of failure by Cacciotti and colleagues makes sense and exhibits a general robustness.
Secondly, the longitudinal research design of the study aimed at analyzing the construct of fear of failure in a performative context, as it is suggested by Cacciotti et al., (2020, 2016).
The results of the supplemental analysis show, however, that the variation of fear of failure across the three waves of the study is not statistically different, implying that it is not possible to assert whether time plays a fundamental role in the variation of fear of failure in the entrepreneurial context.
Thirdly, the study shows the significant negative effect of fear of failure on the individual levels of well-being. This implies that, despite its potential positive effects on the individual motivation levels (Cacciotti et al., 2016; Martin & Marsh, 2003), fear to fail can have a detrimental effect on the founders (Li, 2011; Welpe et al., 2012), as it can negatively influence their own well-being state (Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015; Cacciotti et al., 2016; Diener, 2000; Hayton et al., 2013; Martin & Marsh, 2003; Sagar et al., 2009)
Further, in line with Lazarus and Folkman (1984), it has been found out that there are coping strategies available for entrepreneurs for softening the negative consequences of fear of failure. This study has shown, in fact, that positive reframing and active coping have a moderating effect on the relationship between fear of failure and well-being. This result is in line with other studies; positive reframing, also known as reappraising, has been, in fact, found to increase levels of life satisfactions, optimism, self-esteem, and other well-being measures, thus helping founders to negotiate stressful situations in a more effective manner (Gross &
John, 2003). Also with regards to active coping, this study is in line with previous research, showing that taking direct actions in a step-wise approach towards a stressful problem
represents an effective strategy that can be used by entrepreneurs to limit the detrimental effects of fear of failure on well-being (Carver et al., 1989).
However, the analysis has also found out that coping strategies are not always beneficial for the individual well-being. On the contrary, certain coping measures can even strengthen the aversive consequences of fear. Denying the reality of the stressful event represents a coping strategy that can, in fact, intensify the already negative relationship between fear of failure and well-being. This finding is also in line with previous studies (ibid.). Overall, the study unveils the high complexity around coping strategies, especially given the fact that a single individual can engage in multiple measures simultaneously (Uy et al., 2013).
The analysis validates also the critical role played by harmonious passion in moderating the relationship between fear of failure and well-being. Having a genuine attachment to the own venture has been found to be an essential means to effectively managing the negative consequences of fear of failure (Hayton et al., 2013).
In general, the thesis advances the importance to incorporate, in entrepreneurial research, findings from different fields of studies and to bring various constructs and measurements in together in a single model. The study also gives new insights by analyzing entrepreneurs acting in their daily performative settings; this represents, in fact, a different and valuable research contribution that is not limited to the analysis of respondents that are already facing pathological issues (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980) or that are studied in hypothetical settings (Cacciotti et al., 2016).
Practical implications
Apart from theoretical advancements, the present study suggests several interesting practical implications and suggestions that are worth being considered and implemented by entrepreneurs. As previously discussed, the empirical analysis shows that entrepreneurs, in their performative context and at different stages of their ventures, can feel fear to fail. Such fear of failure is not represented only by the worry that the venture could collapses, but also by other factors such as the fear related to finances, individual ability, idea’s potential, and opportunity costs (Cacciotti et al., 2016). Fear of failure has been found to have detrimental effects on well-being, and, for this reason, it is crucial for the entrepreneurs to cope effectively in order to limit and reduce the negative consequences both on the individual and business context (Uy et al., 2013). This study has found how active coping and positive reframing can help entrepreneurs to better manage the fear to fail: reminding themselves to look at the positive side of thing, try to look at things from a more positive angle and take a step-wise approach by
solving directly the problem, can represent a life saver strategy for the founders to maintain a good well-being state. Further, entrepreneurs should avoid refusing to believe that they are experiencing a stressful situation, as denial intensifies the negative effects that fear has on well- being. On the contrary, founders should focus on nurturing a healthy level of passion for what they are accomplishing: harmonious passion represents, in fact, an incredible tool for increasing motivation, providing meaning in the daily life, promoting well-being level, and coping successfully with fear of failure (Vallerand et al., 2003).
Limitations and future outlook
Even though the entire research has been thoroughly planned and carried out, it faces several limitations. The present study examines the relationship between fear of failure and well-being and shows that the fear of failure construct has a negative relationship with entrepreneurial well-being. However, the analysis does not take into consideration other factors that can influence and negatively impact the mental health of entrepreneurs. Specific control variables have been included, but they are likely not sufficient in number: cultural, personality traits or historical background information, for instance, could be taken into account in future research to guarantee more grounded results. Further, the study involves 43 participants in a longitudinal study and this number could be not sufficient for a generalization of the results. Future research could focus on gaining more respondents and keep their participation at good levels throughout the study. Also, given the time constraint, the data collection has been done over three consecutive weeks: such short distance across waves could have compromised, for instance, the variation of the variables. Thus, further research should extend the distance between waves to check for statistical significance over time. The current study focused on the examination of the moderating effect of only passion and coping strategies on the relationship between fear of failure and well-being; thus, many other potential valuable ways to regulate negative emotions should be reflected in future analyses (Gross & John, 2003; Uy et al., 2013). Another limitation of the study is represented by the fact that the study did not analyze the long-term implications and effectiveness of coping strategies on the entrepreneurial well-being, as it was suggested by Uy et al. (2013). Further studies should thus include a follow-up survey to understand how fear, coping and well-being levels change on the long-term perspective. To conclude, provided the self-reporting nature of the study, subjective and attitudinal data have been not considered.
As previously advised by Cacciotti et al (2020), future studies should gather additionally biological data to examine physiological reactions.
CONCLUSION
This thesis aimed at analyzing the construct of entrepreneurial fear of failure in a performative context and its effects of mental well-being. The study aimed, in particular, at understanding if fear of failure is a dynamic variable that changes over time and at identifying the most effective coping strategies suitable to moderate the effects of such fear. The analysis relied on the participation of 43 active entrepreneurs from different stages and from different industries in a three-week longitudinal study; the results show that fear of failure, despite its limited variability across waves, is an ongoing element of the entrepreneurial experience that has statistically significant detrimental effects on the psychological mental well-being levels. However, it has been found that entrepreneurs can limit the negative consequences of fear by engaging in active coping and positive reframing, by nurturing their own harmonious passion levels and by avoiding denying that the experience of the stressful situation is actual and real.
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