The interplay of core self-evaluation and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in predicting entrepreneurial orientation

ABSTRACT

Given limited attention to the individual-level antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation in small business ventures, this study explores two antecedents, core self-evaluation and entrepreneurial domain-specific self-efficacy, and links a disposition with a cognition in predicting small business owner-managers’ choice of entrepreneurial orientation. We specify and test a partially mediated model with a large sample of owners who are the principal decision-makers in their ventures. The results demonstrate that there is no significant direct relationship between owner-managers’ core self-evaluations and their choice of entrepreneurial orientation in the venture, but that entrepreneurial domain-specific self-efficacy significantly mediates the relationship, extending the discussion about the development of entrepreneurial orientations.

KEYWORDS:

• Core self-evaluation
• self-efficacy
• entrepreneurial orientation

Supplementary material

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.