| What does it mean to be “entrepreneurial”? The term is ubiquitous, used throughout the social sciences to describe individuals, firms, and economies, but rarely well defined or commonly understood. Built upon the philosophical foundation of action theory, this dissertation reconciles a host of theoretical approaches to entrepreneurship and posits that the essence of the term “entrepreneurial” is decisional in nature such that, when confronted with a choice between the novel and the routine, a strategic inclination for the novel is exercised. The framework is then infused with Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT), a motivational theory from social psychology, which explains the conditions under which this strategic inclination is expected to occur.; Employing both experimental and mail survey methods, I examine the influence of regulatory focus upon individuals' intentions to commit their firms to entrepreneurial action. Findings show (1) that regulatory focus is significantly explanatory of entrepreneurial intention in both natural and laboratory settings, (2) that promotion focus is more likely than prevention focus to produce entrepreneurial intention, and (3) that regulatory states can be intentionally induced to foster or suppress entrepreneurial intention regardless of an individual's predisposition toward or against entrepreneurial behavior.; Findings suggest that if a firm, economy, or social system wants to become more “entrepreneurial”, it must be cognizant of the regulatory state its policies induce in its members. Accordingly, the nature of initiatives, the language with which they are discussed, and the way in which their implementation is ensured (i.e., in terms of rewards and punishment) must be recognized as powerful tools—tools that are capable of transforming thoughts, thoughts that manifest as countless decisions, and decisions that influence behavior in both trivial and systemically consequential ways. |
