Rising to the Occasion or Burning our Boats:How Entrepreneurs'Fear of Failure Influences Entrepreneurial Performance in the VUCA Context
Compared with established firms,new ventures are constrained by the"liability of newness".There-fore,a volatile,uncertain,complex,and ambiguous(hereinafter referred to as VUCA)environment imposes great challenges to the survival and development of new ventures.The VUCA contexts engage entrepreneurs to perceive the potential threat and risk,resulting in entrepreneurs'fear of failure.Although prior research has focused on entrepreneurs'fear of failure and made several explorations around it,there are still some research gaps.First,al-though recent studies have pointed out the differences in understanding of fear of failure under the state perspective(i.e.,regarding fear of failure as the state that can be influenced by the surroundings)and trait perspective(i.e.,re-garding fear of failure as a stable motive disposition),there are still few studies emphasizing the implication of fear of failure under the state perspective and exploring its role empirically under specific contexts such as VUCA situ-ation.Second,extant research on fear of failure focuses more on individual-level influence while ignoring the impact of fear of failure at the firm level such as firm-level strategic actions and outcomes.Third,most existing studies regard fear of failure as a detrimental characteristic of entrepreneurs.Despite some research indicating the necessity of taking a comprehensive look at entrepreneurs'fear of failure,the illustration of complex roles of fear of failure is still lacking.Fourth,existing studies still pay little attention to entrepreneurs'ability to recognize and grasp information in the VUCA environment when exploring the role of entrepreneurs'fear of failure.To fill these research gaps,this study focuses on how entrepreneurs'fear of failure triggered by the VUCA context impacts the strategic action and growth of new ventures.Specifically,drawing on regulatory focus perspec-tive,this study explores how fear of failure affects new venture performance,and explains the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation in the relationship between individual fear of failure and entrepreneurial performance.In addition,considering the characteristics of ambiguity and complexity of market information,this study concen-trates on entrepreneurs'capability of taking the perspective of customers and effectively collecting information(i.e.,cognitive empathy)and explores the moderating role of entrepreneurs'cognitive empathy in the relationship be-tween fear of failure,entrepreneurial orientation,and new venture performance.This study employed an empirical study on 338 questionnaires from entrepreneurs and their founded firms.To test the hypotheses,this study used hierarchical regression,bootstrapping,and instantaneous indirect effect tests.The results are as follows.First,there is a U-shaped relationship between fear of failure and new venture per-formance.Second,there is a U-shaped relationship between fear of failure and entrepreneurial orientation of the new venture.Moreover,entrepreneurial orientation mediates the U-shaped relationship between fear of failure and new venture performance.Third,the cognitive empathy of entrepreneurs enhances the U-shaped relationship be-tween fear of failure and entrepreneurial orientation and enhances the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation between fear of failure and new venture performance.
fear of failureentrepreneurial orientationnew venture performancecognitive empathyregulato-ry focus
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