Abstract:

How to optimize entrepreneurial behavior and thus improve the quality of entrepreneurship is of central interest for both academics and practitioners. As a salient characteristic of entrepreneurial behavior is its dynamic match with external environment, research attention shifting from a focus on static entrepreneurial behavior to tracking dynamic changes in entrepreneurial behavior is warranted. In this study, we posit that behavior is simultaneously influenced by personality, cognition, and environment, and explore how an entrepreneur’s narcissism affects his/her behavioral change and following performance. Further, we investigate how narcissism interacts with experience in affecting behavioral change and its performance implications across different cognitive contexts and business environments. Our findings contribute to the research on entrepreneurial behavior and entrepreneurial psychology, as well as accumulate knowledge on how to help entrepreneurs understand themselves and improve their ability of decision making.

Key words: entrepreneurial behavior, serial entrepreneurship, narcissism, entrepreneurial cognition