Matthias Spörrle

Emotions and Opportunities: The Interplay of Opportunity Evaluation, Fear, Joy, and Anger as Antecedent of Entrepreneurial Exploitation

This research examines the interplay of opportunity evaluation and emotions as determinants of entrepreneurial exploitation using affect–as–information theory and the affective processing principle as conceptual bases. Three central assumptions are confirmed across two studies. The first is that the effects of opportunity characteristics on exploitation are mediated by evaluation. The second is that emotions influence exploitation decisions in addition to evaluation. Fear reduces exploitation, whereas joy and anger increase it. The third is that fear, joy, and anger influence evaluations effect on exploitation with higher levels of fear reducing and higher levels of joy and anger increasing the positive impact of evaluation on exploitation.

Be Yourself, Believe in Yourself, and Be Happy: Self-Efficacy as a Mediator between Personality Factors and Subjective Well-Being

Research has shown close connections between personality and subjective well-being (SWB), suggesting that personality traits predispose individuals to experience different levels of SWB. Moreover, numerous studies have shown that self-efficacy is related to both personality factors and SWB. Extending previous research, we show that general self-efficacy functionally connects personality factors and two components of SWB (life satisfaction and subjective happiness). Our results demonstrate the mediating role of self-efficacy in linking personality factors and SWB. Consistent with our expectations, the influence of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness on life satisfaction was mediated by self-efficacy. Furthermore, self-efficacy mediated the influence of openness and conscientiousness, but not that of neuroticism and extraversion, on subjective happiness. Results highlight the importance of cognitive beliefs in functionally linking personality traits and SWB.

Does Being Attractive Always Help? Positive and Negative Effects of Attractiveness on Social Decision Making

Previous studies of organizational decision making demonstrate an abundance of positive biases directed toward highly attractive individuals. The current research, in contrast, suggests that when the person being evaluated is of the same sex as the evaluator, attractiveness hurts, rather than helps. Three experiments assessing evaluations of potential job candidates (Studies 1 and 3) and university applicants (Study 2) demonstrated positive biases toward highly attractive other-sex targets but negative biases toward highly attractive same-sex targets. This pattern was mediated by variability in participants’ desire to interact with versus avoid the target individual (Studies 1 and 2) and was moderated by participants’ level of self-esteem (Study 3); the derogation of attractive same-sex targets was not observed among people with high self-esteem. Findings demonstrate an important exception to the positive effects of attractiveness in organizational settings and suggest that negative responses to attractive same-sex targets stem from perceptions of self-threat.

Easy Now, Desirable Later: The Moderating Role of Temporal Distance in Opportunity Evaluation and Exploitation

How does the temporal distance between the phases of evaluation and exploitation alter entrepreneurs’ opportunity evaluation? Building on construal level theory, we argue that the impact of an opportunitys desirability and feasibility on evaluation and exploitation intentions varies systematically with temporal distance. We experimentally demonstrate stronger influences of desirability on evaluation when the exploitation phase is temporally distant rather than near, whereas feasibility more strongly affects evaluation when exploitation is near rather than distant. Using construal level theory, we explain empirical inconsistencies in previous research and demonstrate the usefulness of integrating the concept of temporal distance in entrepreneurship research and education.

The future starts today, not tomorrow: How future focus promotes organizational citizenship behaviors

Future-oriented cognition has been shown to be an important driver of several functional behaviors. In the present article, we build and test theory empirically on the influence of dispositional future focus on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). We integrate future focus research with regulatory focus theory to examine the two regulatory foci (i.e. promotion and prevention focus) as mediating mechanisms through which future focus influences five distinct organizational citizenship behaviors (i.e. altruism, civic virtue, conscientiousness, courtesy, and sportsmanship). In line with our hypotheses, results from a study of 845 employees show that future focus has a positive influence on altruism, civic virtue, and courtesy over and above important predictors of OCB identified in previous research. Mediation analyses support our theoretical model, indicating that different OCBs are influenced by future focus through either promotion or prevention focus at work.

Antecedents of Social Entrepreneurial Intentions: The Role of an Individual's General Social Appraisal

Abstract This study addresses antecedents of social entrepreneurial intentions. First, this study argues that an individuals appraisal to become a social entrepreneur is an important predictor of social entrepreneurial intention. Second, this study hypothesizes that this general social appraisal moderates the influences of two opportunity characteristics on social entrepreneurial intention. In line with our main argument, the results of our empirical experiment show a positive influence of general social appraisal. In addition, this appraisal weakens the influence of perceived probability of success and strengthens the influence of perceived social impact on social entrepreneurial intention. This study concludes with a discussion of the important role of an individuals general social appraisal in research and practice.

Meta-Analytic Guidelines for Evaluating Single-Item Reliabilities of Personality Instruments

Personality is an important predictor of various outcomes in many social science disciplines. However, when personality traits are not the principal focus of research, for example, in global comparative surveys, it is often not possible to assess them extensively. In this article, we first provide an overview of the advantages and challenges of single-item measures of personality, a rationale for their construction, and a summary of alternative ways of assessing their reliability. Second, using seven diverse samples (Ntotal = 4,263) we develop the SIMP-G, the German adaptation of the Single-Item Measures of Personality, an instrument assessing the Big Five with one item per trait, and evaluate its validity and reliability. Third, we integrate previous research and our data into a first meta-analysis of single-item reliabilities of personality measures, and provide researchers with guidelines and recommendations for the evaluation of single-item reliabilities.

When Romance and Rivalry Awaken

Previous research indicates positive effects of a person’s attractiveness on evaluations of opposite-sex persons, but less positive or even negative effects of attractiveness on same-sex evaluations. These biases are consistent with social motives linked to mate search and intrasexual rivalry. In line with the hypothesis that such motives should not become operative until after puberty, 6- to 12-year-old participants (i.e., children) displayed no evidence for biased social evaluations based on other people’s attractiveness. In contrast, 13- to 19-year-old participants (i.e., adolescents) displayed positive and negative attractiveness biases toward opposite- and same-sex targets, respectively. Moreover, these biases increased with the age—and thus the reproductive relevance—of the targets being evaluated. Findings corroborate the relevance of mating-related motives for social judgment and illustrate how such biases can grow during human development. At a broader conceptual level, this research demonstrates the utility of investigating proximate social judgment processes through the lens of adaptationist thinking.

I think It’s Good, but I’m Also Afraid: The Interplay of Opportunity Evaluation and Emotions as Antecedent of Entrepreneurial Exploitation

This research examines the interplay of opportunity evaluation and emotions as determinants of entrepreneurial exploitation, using affect-as-information theory and the affective processing principle as conceptual bases. Three central assumptions are confirmed across two studies. The first is that the effects of opportunity characteristics on exploitation are mediated by evaluation. The second is that emotions influence exploitation decisions in addition to evaluation. Fear reduces exploitation whereas joy and anger increase it. The third is that fear, joy, and anger influence evaluation’s effect on exploitation with higher levels of fear reducing and higher levels of joy and anger increasing the positive impact of evaluation on exploitation.