Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Performance of Start-Ups

Marco Caliendo, Alexander Kritikos, Daniel Rodriguez and Claudia Stier ()
Additional contact information
Daniel Rodriguez: University of Potsdam
Claudia Stier: University of Potsdam

No 15848, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Self-efficacy reflects the self-belief that one can persistently perform difficult and novel tasks while coping with adversity. As such beliefs reflect how individuals behave, think, and act, they are key for successful entrepreneurial activities. While existing literature mainly analyzes the influence of the task-related construct of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, we take a different perspective and investigate, based on a representative sample of 1,405 German business founders, how the personality characteristic of generalized self-efficacy influences start-up performance as measured by a broad set of business outcomes up to 19 months after business creation. Outcomes include start-up survival and entrepreneurial income, as well as growthoriented outcomes such as job creation and innovation. We find statistically significant and economically important positive effects of high scores of self-efficacy on start-up survival and entrepreneurial income, which become even stronger when focusing on the growth-oriented outcome of innovation. Furthermore, we observe that generalized self-efficacy is similarly distributed between female and male business founders, with effects being partly stronger for female entrepreneurs. Our findings are important for policy instruments that are meant to support firm growth by facilitating the design of more target-oriented offers for training, coaching, and entrepreneurial incubators.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; firm performance; general self-efficacy; survival; job creation; innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 L26 M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ent, nep-hrm, nep-ind, nep-ino and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published in: Small Business Economics, 2023, 61, 1027–1051

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Related works:
Journal Article: Self-efficacy and entrepreneurial performance of start-ups (2023)
Working Paper: Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Performance of Start-Ups (2023)
Working Paper: Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Performance of Start-Ups (2023)
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