创业焦虑对创业努力的影响机制研究——基于能量变化视角

Research on the Mechanism of Entrepreneurial Anxiety on Entrepreneurial Efforts:Based on the Perspective of Human Energy Change

创业过程中焦虑情绪如影随形,适度焦虑可以化为努力和动力,过度焦虑便会阻碍努力。然而,理论界关于创业焦虑与创业努力间的关系及作用过程仍知之甚少。基于能量理论框架,引入自我调节和情绪耗竭作为中介变量,团队信任作为调节变量构建创业焦虑影响创业努力的跨层次模型。借助问卷调查法,在两个时间段从创业者和团队成员处收集数据。实证结果表明,创业焦虑对创业努力发挥“双面性”影响。即创业焦虑通过促进自我调节激发创业努力,同时通过引发情绪耗竭阻碍创业努力。此外,团队信任调节了“双面性”中介过程,团队信任放大了创业焦虑促进自我调节的作用,削弱了其引发情绪耗竭的作用。研究结论揭示了创业焦虑—创业努力间“双面性”作用过程,明晰了两者间关键边界条件,推动了焦虑情绪动力学的发展,丰富了理论界对创业焦虑作用后果理解。

Entrepreneurship is typically full of uncertainty,so entrepreneurs may find themselves on an emotional rollercoaster.Among various emotions,anxiety is the most prominent one.Scholars have not reached a consistent conclusion on the consequences of anxiety.The majority of literature highlights the negative effect of anxiety,associating it with depression,unethical behaviors,and lower levels of performance.However,the latest research has begun to pay attention to its positive effects.For example,entrepreneurial anxiety could boost entrepreneurial efforts in problem-solving and innovation thinking with an increased sense of urgency.Although empirical research has provided preliminary evidence that entrepreneurial anxiety promotes entrepreneurial efforts,we still have little knowledge about the mechanism between them.Entrepreneurial behavior is typical voluntary behavior,and the strength of entrepreneurial efforts is highly dependent on entrepreneurs’energy.Therefore,we draw on the human energy theory to construct the process model of entrepreneurial anxiety affecting entrepreneurial efforts,and identify two broad types of human energy—potential energy and in-use energy—that may predict how entrepreneurial anxiety facilitates and debilitates entrepreneurial efforts.Additionally,energy research shows that highquality interpersonal interaction could supplement(potential and in-use)energy,which may affect the mechanism.As a result,we introduce self-regulation and emotional exhaustion as mediators,and introduce team trust as a moderator.Through a questionnaire survey,we collect two waves of data from entrepreneurs and team members.The empirical results show that entrepreneurial anxiety facilitates entrepreneurial efforts by increasing the self-regulation process,while debilitates entrepreneurial efforts by increasing the emotional exhaustion process.Moreover,team trust moderates the bilateral mediating process,in which team trust magnifies the effectiveness of entrepreneurial anxiety in promoting self-regulation but weakens its effectiveness in causing emotional exhaustion.The impact threshold of a confiding variable(ITCV)method is adopted to test the omit variable issues,and the results remain robust.This paper has both theoretical and practical contributions,Drawing on the human energy theory,it reveals the nature and process of the intricate relationship between entrepreneurial anxiety and entrepreneurial efforts and outlines the precise boundary condition through which entrepreneurial anxiety facilitates and debilitates entrepreneurial efforts.By doing so,it promotes the development of the positive effect of anxiety and enriches the understanding of entrepreneurial anxiety.Additionally,the findings have implications for investors to select appropriate entrepreneurial projects as well as for entrepreneurs to build entrepreneurial teams.