Jumping in at the deep end! The role of motivational forces in starting a new venture

Entrepreneurial motivation is a decisive factor for new venture creation, yet sometimes high motivation does not translate into corresponding behaviour. Comparing the intention-action gap of nascent entrepreneurs, we find that variances in motivation do not sufficiently explain the decision to not pursue a start-up idea. We propose and show that through applying an enhanced version of expectancy theory (ET), it is possible to identify additional personality factors of nascent entrepreneurs which add explanatory power to answer the question, why, out of a seemingly similarly motivated group, some will found a company and others will not. Through framing our study as an attempt to add to the intention-action gap literature by demonstrating the general applicability of ET, yet the need for further contextualisation of the theory, we contribute to previous studies and advance our knowledge in this important field. Our study provides a conceptual model, tests it using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED II) and, finally, offers suggestions regarding future research as well as practical implications.