Attributions and Success in New Venture Creation Among Canadian Nascent Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The research reported in this paper is part of a longitudinal study that tracked the activities and outcomes of a representative sample of Canadian nascent entrepreneurs over four years. Drawing on the attributional literature, we propose hypotheses that suggest a self-serving bias will lead to internal stable attributions in describing positive situations and external variable attributions in describing negative situations; and that those who are successful in forming a firm will be less susceptible to the self-serving bias than those whose startup efforts have been abandoned. Responses to five open-ended questions were coded and analyzed in conjunction with self-reports of success in starting and staying in business. A self-serving bias was neither associated with success nor generally evident. Rather, a quite distinctive attributional style was found among Canadian nascent entrepreneurs.

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