Kelly G. Shaver

Person, Process, Choice: The Psychology of New Venture Creation:

Psychology can be distinguished from other behavioral sciences by its emphasis on the behavior of the individual person. Behavior, in turn, is influenced by the way in which the external world is represented in the mind, and by the individuals exercise of choice. The article examines the possibility that relatively enduring attributes of the person might affect entrepreneurial activity, describes the social cognitive processes Involved in constructing representations of the external environment, and suggests which motivational variables affect behavioral choices. Although past research on “the psychology of the entrepreneur” has not been productive, a psychological approach based on persons, process, and choice holds promise for the future.

Entrepreneurial Expectancy, Task Effort, and Performance *

Research to date has not adequately explained the role that expectancy of entrepreneurial performance based on perceived ability plays in motivating persons to persevere on an entrepreneurial task. This study investigated the entrepreneurial expectancy, effort–performance linkage via a World Wide Web–based experiment involving 179 undergraduate business students at a large midwestern university. Results indicated that the type of feedback (positive versus negative) that individuals received regarding their entrepreneurial ability (regardless of actual ability) changed expectancies regarding future business start–up, but did not alter task effort or quality of performance. Individuals receiving positive feedback about their entrepreneurial abilities had higher entrepreneurial expectancies than individuals receiving negative feedback. We also found that males had higher expectancies regardless of experimental condition than females.

Deciding on an Entrepreneurial Career: A Test of the Pull and Push Hypotheses Using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics Data

The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics data were used to analyze if the potential for increased life satisfaction pulls or job dissatisfaction pushes individuals toward an entrepreneurial career. For life satisfaction, we found no significant mean differences between nascent entrepreneurs and the comparison group, whereas for job satisfaction, we found a significantly higher mean for the nascent entrepreneurs than for the comparison group. As these results show little about nascent entrepreneurs being pulled into an entrepreneurial career, the results have to be taken as strong evidence against nascent entrepreneurs being pushed toward an entrepreneurial career due to low job satisfaction in their preentrepreneurial employment.

Understanding Gendered Variations in Business Growth Intentions Across the Life Course

This article investigates differences in growth intentions of men and women entrepreneurs. Using data from the U.S. Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics I and II, we test hypotheses informed by life course theory regarding the influence of career stage and family status on high growth intentions of men and women entrepreneurs. Results show that young men are especially likely to express high growth intentions, while mothers expressed high growth intentions more frequently than did other women.

One size does not fit all: Entrepreneurial expectancies and growth intentions of US women and men nascent entrepreneurs

Women are the majority owners of 30% (6.7 million) of all privately held firms in the US. The vast majority of these firms, however, are smaller than average with only 16% achieving annual revenues of more than

Redress and conscientiousness in the attribution of responsibility for accidents

500,000. This suggests that women may have different expectations for the growth of their ventures than men. Using the US Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics dataset, this paper utilizes an expectancy theory perspective to propose differences in growth expectancies of nascent men and women entrepreneurs. Specifically, we conceptualize new venture creation as a process based on the effort–performance–outcome model of entrepreneurial expectancies and propose that differences in motivations towards growth may mediate those relationships. Our findings indicate that while men want to grow their new ventures to achieve financial success, for women, financial success is just one of many reasons to achieve growth. Implications are discussed.

Attributions of Responsibility

Abstract Two experiments were conducted to test the possibility that greater attributed responsibility to persons potentially at fault for severe accidents reflects a greater perceived necessity for compensation of the victim of the accident. Experiment I was a 2 × 2 factorial design in which the severity of the accidents consequences and whether or not the stimulus person had insurance that compensated the victim were varied. Contrary to previous findings (Walster, 1966) , there were no differences in attributed responsibility based on the severity of the consequences. Regardless of the severity, less responsibility was attributed when the stimulus person had insurance that provided redress than when he carried no insurance. Experiment II showed that this latter finding was not due to provision of compensation, but rather to the fact that the stimulus person had carried insurance. Possible reasons for the failure to replicate findings of severity-dependent attributed responsibility were discussed.

The Social Psychology of Entrepreneurial Behavior

Notwithstanding Hart’s (1968) notion of “causality responsibility,” there is, as we have seen, a fundamental difference between “caused” and “was responsible for.” Many causes can exist independent of intervention by human beings—tornadoes cause extensive damage, bacteria cause disease in animals, lengthening spring days cause new leaves to appear on trees—so the actions of persons constitute only a fraction of the antecedents of effects. Although Reid (1863a, 1863b) was probably correct to argue that our intuitive idea of what is involved in causality arises from the exercise of our own will in doing something, it is still possible to conceive of a cause-effect sequence that does not include even the most remote participation of people. By contrast to this view of human agency as only one of several potential causes, there cannot be responsibility without human participation, either as cause or as perceiver, or both. An assignment of responsibility is a moral judgment, one made about the actions of another (presumably) moral individual. Certainly there are instances of human action for which perceivers will routinely decline to assign moral accountability. But these instances are recognized and debated for the exceptions they are, and even they do not violate the principle that limits “was responsible for” to events involving persons.

Social Psychology, Criminal Justice, and the Principle of Discretion: A Selective Review

Social psychology has traditionally divided its study of meaningful social behavior into the intrapersonal processes that affect action and the interpersonal processes that describe relationships between two and more individuals. This chapter describes some of the intrapersonal factors – social cognitive processes, attributions, attitudes, and elements of the self-concept – that are implicated in entrepreneurial behavior.

Social Motives in the PSED II

This paper argues that the legal principle of discretion forms an excellent basis for the participation of social psychology in the criminal justice system. Social and psychological factors that enter into arrest, investigation, selective enforcement, plea- bargaining, criminal sentences, and prison operation are reviewed. The bibliography includes 15 case citations and 132 references.