Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 2023

Examining Psychological Mediators in Entrepreneurship: Experimental Designs, Remedies, and Recommendations

Dan K. Hsu¹; Janet Mitchell^2,3; Xian Cao⁴

¹ North Dakota State University · ² Western University · ³ Colorado State University · ⁴ Ball State University

Abstract

Psychological mediators underlie many entrepreneurship phenomena. Unfolding psychological mechanisms enhances our understanding of theoretical relationships in entrepreneurship. This paper first reviews the current state of entrepreneurship studies examining psychological mediators and identifies the hurdles that push researchers away from employing randomized experiments to unfold the causal relationships underlying mediation. To alleviate these hurdles, we then propose parsimonious yet rigorous experimental designs that make experiments testing psychological mediators in entrepreneurship feasible and cost efficient. In addition, when manipulating the mediator is not feasible, we theorize and identify two remedies a single experiment can use to examine the causal chain underlying mediation.

DOI

10.1177/10422587231152824

Sources

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APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓