Cognitive Bias, Entrepreneurial Emotion, and Entrepreneurship Intention

Front Psychol. 2020 Apr 29:11:625. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00625. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Although numerous studies have explored the factors influencing entrepreneurial activity, there is a lack of a theoretical basis for linking these factors to entrepreneurship behavioral intention. The current study uses the theory of self-regulating attitude to construct a theoretical model of examining the relationship among cognitive bias, entrepreneurial emotion, and entrepreneurship intention. A total of 312 valid samples were collected from college students at a Chinese university. The bootstrapping method was used to test the multi-mediation hypotheses. Our research found that positive entrepreneurial emotion plays a mediating role in the relationship between optimism and entrepreneurship intention, whereas negative entrepreneurial emotion plays a mediating role in the relationship between overconfidence and entrepreneurship intention. These findings underline the importance of a correct understanding of cognitive bias and entrepreneurial emotion in the process of entrepreneurship.

Keywords: cognitive bias; entrepreneurial emotion; entrepreneurship intention; optimism; overconfidence.