Resumo

The present study aims to develop a deeper understanding of the motivational processes involved in intentional entrepreneurial behavior, for such, it integrates fear and entrepreneurship into the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). In the scope of this study, fear of failure was considered a key emotion based on its role in previous studies (Cacciotti et al., 2016; Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015; Mitchell & Shepherd, 2010; Mitchell et al., 2011; Weber & Milliman, 1997), and was operationally defined as a psychological factor inhibiting entrepreneurship (Arenius & Minniti, 2005).

Considering fear of failure as a key emotion, this study operationally defined it as a psychological factor inhibiting entrepreneurship. In this regard, both positive and negative responses to it were deemed in the process of hypotheses elaboration, in the theoretical backgrounds, and in the methodology employed. Correspondingly, this study focused on answering how fear of failure influenced entrepreneurial intentions.

The decision to become an entrepreneur is a planned behavior rather than an improvised decision, considering the number of factors involved in taking such a step (Krueger et al., 2000). Thus, the TPB is an essential theory to explain entrepreneurial intention (Al-Jubari, 2019; Duong et al., 2020; Lopes et al., 2020). to analyze the strands that fear of failure may have, we study the negative effect on entrepreneurial activity, investigating how fear affects attitude, perceived behavior control, as well as its direct effects on entrepreneurial intentions (Arenius & Minniti, 2005).

Methodologically, this study was developed in Latin America and comprises a sample of 979 higher education students from four countries, namely, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. Although presenting an array of peculiarities, these countries can be aligned as they display similar socio-economic frameworks, inherent to the particularities of the region's historical trajectories.

In the scope of this research, fear of failure was considered a formative construct since it is composed of an array of other sorts of fear, which turn out to form it as a construct. In this context, even though fear of failure affected attitude and perceived behavior control negatively, this effect did not generate a negative impact on attitude on perceived behavior control, which remained positive. These results allow us to interpret that one might be afraid to start a business, but such fear is not enough to stall the willingness to become an entrepreneur.

Findings demonstrated that in Latin America respondents were more impacted by the fear of being judged by relevant others than by other fears, such as ones connected with bankruptcy or uncertainty. It is theorized this effect might happen as people in the region are more used to the instabilities of these countries’ institutional contexts.

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T Al-Jubari, I. (2019). College students’ entrepreneurial intention: Testing an integrated model of SDT and TPB. SAGE Open, 9(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019853467 Al-Jubari, I., Hassan, A., & Liñán, F. (2019). Entrepreneurial intention among University students in Malaysia: integrating self-determination theory and the theory of planned behavior. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 15(4), 1323–1342.