Title: Does entrepreneurial confidence influence the nature of entrepreneurial projects chosen by individuals with high ability?

Authors: Manoj Chandra Bayon; Esteban Lafuente; Yancy Vaillant

Addresses: School of Business, Universidad Del Norte, Km 5 via Puerto Colombia, Barranquilla, Colombia ' Department of Management, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona Tech), EPSEB, Av. Gregorio Marañón, 44-50, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain ' ESC Rennes School of Business, 2 rue Robert d'Arbrissel CS 76522, 35065 Rennes Cedex, France

Abstract: This empirical study of 247 nascent entrepreneurs examines the joint effect of high ability and entrepreneurial confidence is influencing the choice of innovative entrepreneurship. We suggest that in their decision to pursue entrepreneurship aspiring nascent entrepreneurs seek to gain strategic advantages that allow their new ventures to enter and compete in a given marketplace. We argue that aspiring nascent entrepreneurs create such advantages by choosing innovative entrepreneurial projects as opposed to imitative ones. Our results support the hypothesised effects. Considering that innovation is one of the most important and desired outcome of entrepreneurship our results identifies sources of quality entrepreneurship in an economy.

Keywords: innovation; entrepreneurial confidence; entrepreneurial projects; high ability entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship; nascent entrepreneurs; innovative projects; project selection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2015.071826

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2015 Vol.26 No.2, pp.248 - 264

Received: 29 Aug 2014
Accepted: 01 Feb 2015
Published online: 19 Sep 2015 *

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