The Interplay of Core Self-Evaluation and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy in Predicting Entrepreneurial Orientation

Given limited attention to the individual-level antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation in small business ventures, this study explores two antecedents, core self-evaluation and entrepreneurial domain-specific self-efficacy, and links a disposition with a cognition in predicting small business owner-managers' choice of entrepreneurial orientation. We specify and test a partially mediated model with a large sample of owners who are the principal decision-makers in their ventures. The results demonstrate that there is no significant direct relationship between owner-managers' core self-evaluations and their choice of entrepreneurial orientation in the venture, but that entrepreneurial domain-specific self-efficacy significantly mediates the relationship, extending the discussion about the development of entrepreneurial orientations.