Drawing on theories of emotional contagion and goal setting, we propose two mechanisms as to how employees' perceptions of entrepreneurial passion influence their commitment to entrepreneurial ventures. Testing these mechanisms with data from a survey of 124 employees, we find that employees' perceptions of their supervisors' passion for inventing, founding, and developing differentially impact commitment. While perceptions of entrepreneurs' passion for inventing and developing enhance commitment, passion for founding reduces it. Employees' experiences of positive affect at work and their goal clarity mediate these effects. Our results have implications for the literature on entrepreneurial passion and leadership in entrepreneurial firms.
Although studies have highlighted economic and psychological antecedents of negative affect, social antecedents have been neglected. Building on attribution theory, we distinguish between relationship and task conflict to investigate the generation of negative affect during entrepreneurial team tasks including the team members’ context in terms of uncertainty and satisfaction with the team. Two studies, in the field and in the laboratory, highlight the importance of social contexts: while uncertainty attenuates negative affective reactions to conflict, satisfaction with the team magnifies them. We discuss our contributions for research on affect, conflict, uncertainty, and satisfaction with the team in entrepreneurial contexts.
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