Glenn Fox

In prosocial crowdfunding settings, entrepreneurial narratives are a key element in mobilizing resources for entrepreneurs from underserved communities to build their ventures that they depend on for their livelihoods. In this study, we quantitatively measure the effectiveness of cognitive and emotional appeals in the entrepreneurial narratives of 2,098 entrepreneurs from 55 countries shared via the Kiva platform. Our findings suggest that using cognitive appeals can attract more resources than using emotional appeals. In fact, using affective language in general and negative emotion words specifically, can be detrimental and attract fewer resources. We contribute to the entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship literatures by demonstrating that the two routes of information processing in the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (ELM), the cognitive and the emotional, could lead to different outcomes in contexts where entrepreneurial narratives are all framed as “doing good” and individuals allocating resources are highly motivated. We also provide insight into prosocial settings where affective language in entrepreneurial narratives can lead to detrimental outcomes. Finally, we highlight the importance of measuring the effectiveness of cognitive and emotional appeals to mobilize action in different contexts, in this case one that combines the creation of economic and social value.

Reconnaissance Marine training is deliberately difficult, to assure that graduates have the capabilities required to function successfully in the high-risk military occupational specialty. The majority of training attrition is due to voluntary withdrawal and previous research has identified certain predictive factors such as demographics, mental status, and physical performance. While some characteristics of training attrition have been identified, there is still a lack of understanding related to an individual’s profile that is more apt to complete Recon training. Retrospective survey data was analyzed from 3,438 trainees within the Reconnaissance Training Company. Surveys were related to trainees’ military recruitment history and other military experience, prior life experience, athletic experience, self-identified personality characteristics and motivations, and reasons for voluntary withdrawal if applicable, as well as physical performance metrics. Various demographic factors, self-reported hobbies, motivations, aquatic experience, and physical performance were associated with success in Recon Marine training courses. Subjects who voluntarily withdrew from training most commonly cited mental stress and aquatic rigor as the reason and less commonly cited reasons were physical and family reasons. These results could potentially increase training success, but more research is needed to understand the relationships between the observed trainee characteristics and success in elite warfighter training.

Infusing a culture of gratitude into an organization can enhance employee engagement and effectiveness. This note makes the case that focusing on this lever of culture-building can pay major dividends for small and large organizations alike. In the accompanying exercise, students work in groups to create and pitch an innovative workout or dance for Action Potential Enterprise, a firm that specializes in predicting fitness trends and launching new workout products. APE used to be a leader in the industry, but poor management and a lack of innovation has recently caused a decrease in their popularity. The teams must work quickly to help fix APE's stagnant culture and generate new products, each led by a manager with an assigned approach to gratitude and accountability. Students will gain insight into how different managerial styles affect team dynamics and workplace culture.

Self-actualization is a concept used in the entrepreneurship literature, though it is not necessarily specific to entrepreneurs. Turkina et al. (2013) find self-actualization to have a significant positive effect on opportunity entrepreneurship. Many studies indicate that growth-oriented entrepreneurship is a strong vehicle for self-actualization since it often provides more room for self-expression, achievement, creativity and innovation, as well as higher financial gains than salaried employment, which usually requires people to conform to existing organizational rules, frames and structures (Tamvada, 2010; Blanchflower and Oswald, 1998; Carland et al., 1995). Additionally, Hitt et al. (2011) discussed how starting a new venture and operating it successfully likely satisfies several of the entrepreneur’s needs, including self-actualization. Finally, Watchravesringkan et al. (2013) find that self-actualization as a value significantly influenced attitudes, which, in turn, influenced entrepreneurial career intentions.

Work on the role and influence of founder identity on the entrepreneurial process and outcomes is in the relatively early stages of exploration (Fauchart and Gruber, 2011: 954; Navis and Glynn, 2011). As posited by Fauchart & Gruber (2011), founding a new venture is an act “infused with meaning” as it is “an expression of an individual’s identity, or self-concept” (935). Further, Hoang et al (2007) proposed a model showing how founders’ initial role conceptions, feedback they received during the founding process, and their consequent persistence explain the variation in how founders imprint their organizations. Recent work has identified three types of founder identities proposed by Fauchart and Gruber (2011): Darwinian (focused on financial success), Communitarian (focused on contributing to customer communities), or Missionary (focused on being an agent for change). These identities can generate different approaches to entrepreneurial decisions, such as what market segments to serve, customer needs to address, and capabilities and/or resources to deploy.

Taken together, the purpose of this study is to investigate self-actualization in predicting entrepreneurial identity, two factors rarely examined together. As such, this study may shed light of the role of self-actualization in understanding entrepreneurial identity as well as entrepreneurial intent.