Entrepreneurial Passion and Product Innovation Intensity in New Ventures: Mediating Effects of Exploration and Exploitation Activities
| Published date | 01 April 2023 |
| Author | Mujtaba Ahsan,Samuel Adomako,Francis Donbesuur,Kevin F. Mole |
| Date | 01 April 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12627 |
British Journal of Management, Vol. 34, 849–872 (2023)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12627
Entrepreneurial Passion and Product
Innovation Intensity in New Ventures:
Mediating Effects of Exploration and
Exploitation Activities
Mujtaba Ahsan,1Samuel Adomako,2Francis Donbesuur3
and Kevin F. Mole4
1Department of Management, Fowler College of Business, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
92182-8238, USA, 2Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, Bir mingham, B15 2TY, UK,
3School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK, and 4Warwick
Business School and Enterprise Research Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
Corresponding author email: mahsan@sdsu.edu
In this paper, weexamine the differential effects of entrepreneurial passion (EP) on prod-
uct innovation intensity (PII) through the mediating mechanisms of exploration and ex-
ploitation activities. Using time-lagged data from 260 new ventures from Ghana, we ex-
amine the direct relationships between the threedomains of EP (i.e. inventing, developing
and founding) and a new venture’sPII. Further, we test the indirect relationships between
the three domains of EP and PII through the mediating mechanisms of a new venture’s
exploration and exploitation activities. The empirical results provide a ne-grained un-
derstanding of the relationship between EP, exploration and exploitation activities and
PII. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins
– Benjamin Franklin
Introduction
Entrepreneurial passion (EP) has received signif-
icant scholarly attention over the last decade (for
a review, see Newman et al., 2021). EP is dened
as ‘consciously accessible intense positive feelings
experienced by engagement in entrepreneurial ac-
tivities associated with roles that are meaningful
and salient to the self-identity of the entrepreneur’
(Cardon et al., 2009: 517). The EP literature ar-
gues that the intense positive feelings individu-
als experience towards venture activities are im-
portant and central to their self-identity, and this
motivates them to remain engaged with these ac-
tivities (Cardon et al., 2009, 2013). Instructively,
researchers have conceptualized and operational-
ized EP into three distinctive domains – passion
for inventin g,passion for founding and passion for
developing – and have suggested that each pas-
sion domain motivates individuals’ attention and
effort towards particular types of venture activ-
ities. For example, entrepreneurs with a founder
role identity tend to have passion for activities such
as assembling resources to pursue new opportu-
nities and launching new ventures. In contrast,
entrepreneurs with an inventor role identity dis-
play passion for activities such as exploring new
technologies and prototyping, and those with a de-
veloper role identity have passion for activities re-
lated to venture growth and expansion (for a de-
tailed discussion of the three EP domains, see Car-
don et al., 2013: 376–377). Findings from the prior
© 2022 The Authors.British Journal of Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Academy
of Management.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which
permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used
for commercial purposes.
850 M. Ahsan et al.
literature indicate that EP affects entrepreneurial
behaviours (Murnieks, Mosakowski and Cardon,
2014) and outcomes such as new venture survival
(Stenholm and Renko, 2016), venture growth
(Drnovsek, Cardon and Patel, 2016), radical inno-
vation (Strese et al., 2018) and small and medium-
sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) performance (Adomako
and Ahsan, 2022).
Although this body of research suggests that EP
drives entrepreneurial action and affects venture
outcomes (Cardon and Kirk, 2015; Hatak et al.,
2021; Murnieks, Mosakowski and Cardon, 2014),
there is scant empirical evidence supporting this
relationship. This is a critical shortcoming, as
entrepreneurial action is necessary for successful
venture launch and growth(Mathias and Williams,
2018; McKelvie, Brattström and Wennberg, 2017;
McMullen and Shepherd, 2006; Townsend et al.,
2018). In particular,researchers argue that two dis-
tinct types of entrepreneurial action – exploration
activities and exploitation activities – are impor-
tant for survival and growth of entrepreneurial
ventures (Goel and JonesIII, 2016; Mueller, Volery
and von Siemens, 2012; Volery, Mueller and von
Siemens, 2015). In a seminal paper, March (1991)
argues that explorationis generally associated with
activities such as experimentation, search in new
domains and innovation, whereas exploitation
involves activities such as renement, efciency
and implementation. Exploration activities en-
able rms to develop new products, enter new
markets and create new opportunities, whereas
exploitation activities enable rms to enhance ex-
isting products, rene processes and continue
capitalizing on prevailing opportunities
(Atuahene-Gima, Slater and Olson, 2005;
Masango and Lassalle, 2020; Sirén, Kohtamäki
and Kuckertz, 2012; Tang, Zhang and Peng, 2021;
Zhang and White, 2016). As EP synchronizes
founders’ cognition and action (Cardon, Glauser
and Murnieks, 2017; Cardon et al., 2009), it
is important to ascertain whether the three EP
domains could differentially affect exploration
and exploitation activities (Adomako and Ahsan,
2022; Cardon, Post and Forster, 2017). For ex-
ample, entrepreneurs with a passion for inventing
are motivated to pursue activities such as experi-
mentation and prototyping, as these activities are
meaningful to their identity and they experience a
higher degree of positive feelings when performing
them. Indeed, Hatak et al. (2021: 1697) state that
‘[w]hen entrepreneurs are passionate about an
entrepreneurial activity, they cannot help but to
think about and engage in that activity’.
To gain deeper insights on how EP affects
entrepreneurial action and outcomes, we exam-
ine the relationships between EP, exploration–
exploitation activities and rm outcomes. Specif-
ically, we examine the direct and indirect effects
(through exploration and exploitation activities)
of founders’ passion for inventing, developing and
founding on new ventures’ product innovation in-
tensity (PII). We suggest that the three EP do-
mains differentially direct founders’cognition and
action towards exploration and exploitation ac-
tivities. We consciously focus on all three EP do-
mains to ensure that we appropriately capture the
activities that are important and central to the
self-identity of the entrepreneur (Cardon et al.,
2009, 2013).1Moreover, in the context of new ven-
tures, founders have not only recently engaged in
activities related to EP for founding and invent-
ing to start and launch their ventures, but are
also likely to engage in exploration and exploita-
tion activities to innovate and grow their ventures
(Mueller, Volery and von Siemens, 2012; Rothaer-
mel and Deeds, 2004). In this study, we focuson the
new ventures’ PII outcome, as it depicts founders’
subjective assessment of new products developed
and launched by their venture relative to indus-
try peers (Boso, Cadogan and Story, 2013). The
ability to develop and commercialize new prod-
ucts enhances the likelihood of ventures’ survival
and growth.We use time-lagged data from 260new
ventures from Ghana to validate our theoretical
model.
Our study makes three important contributions
to the EP literature. The rst is the focus on bet-
ter understanding the effects of founders’ pas-
sion on PII. Given the importance of new prod-
uct development and commercialization for new
1It is important to stress that the conceptualization (Car-
don et al., 2009: 517) and operationalization (Cardon
et al., 2013: 375–377) of EP focuses on individuals’ affect
and self-identity. Researchershave frequently equated EP
with venture stages, and that has led to an erroneous
assumption that the three EP domains occur sequen-
tially. This is particularly alarming as it assumes that
entrepreneurs’ identity develops and fades according to
venture stage.The three entrepreneurial passion domains
(inventing, founding and developing)exist independently
of venture stage, and they are either a good t or a mis-
t with a particular venture stage (Boone, Andries and
Clarysse, 2020).
© 2022 The Authors.British Journal of Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British
Academy of Management.
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