Purpose Deliberate practice, an iterative process, has garnered increasing attention of researchers and practitioners in entrepreneurship and business domains in the recent years. However, research studies are on rise that found its positive correlates with superior performance. Nevertheless, whether the relationship always holds positive is an intriguing question that wedged the authors’ attention to probe the causal mechanism that might scrutinize the association otherwise. The purpose of the study is to build on the social cognitive theory and the attribution theory to project that deliberate practice deteriorates innovation performance due to augmented creative self-efficacy (CSE). While, individuals who draw on their mindfulness can overcome the harmful effects of increased CSE on innovation performance, subsequently translating deliberate practice into enhanced innovation performance through CSE. Design/methodology/approach The authors gather data from 312 entrepreneurs in the small and medium enterprises using a time-lagged research design and analyze the results using SmartPLS (v 4.0). Findings The findings reveal that deliberate practice significantly affects CSE of entrepreneurs. Besides, deliberate practice negatively influences innovation performance through CSE. In addition, the study finds that mindfulness significantly moderates the relationships between CSE and innovation performance and deliberate practice and innovation performance through CSE. Originality/value This is the first study that examines a moderated mediated model of CSE as a deteriorating agent and mindfulness as a coping mechanism between deliberate practice and innovation performance of entrepreneurs. The study highlights several essential theoretical and practical implications.
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