Gabriella Cacciotti
The University of Warwick
Warwick Business School
Fear of Failure in Entrepreneurship: A Review, Reconceptualization and Operationalization
Summary of Award-winning Thesis:
In view of the above, the research question underlying this thesis is as follows: how can fear of failure be defined and measured in entrepreneurship? In addressing this research question, this thesis pursues three important objectives. First, it discusses the conceptual issues associated with the current status of the literature on fear of failure in entrepreneurship as well as the unique features of the entrepreneurial setting that can contribute to shape the fear of failure experience. Second, the thesis examines fear of failure as it is experienced by people engaged with different stages of the entrepreneurial process. In so doing, the nature of fear of failure in entrepreneurship can be precisely delineated. Finally, it uses the inductive approach to develop a psycho-metrically sound measurement instrument of this construct and let the measure of fear of failure directly emerge from the entrepreneurship context.
