11107: Ventures Nurture Optimists: The Impact of Entrepreneurship on Optimism

Friday, July 25, 2025

14:30 - 15:30 CEST (GMT+2)

Location: Bella Center: Hub (Blue) Poster 104

Session Type: Poster
Orientation: Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/qdkQn5

Author(s)

WY

Weiwen Yang

Department of Management, Business School, The Chinese U. of Hong Kong,HK, Hong Kong
YY

YI YING

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
WL

Wendong Li

The Chinese University of Hong Kong
HZ

Hong Zhang

Lingnan U.
KY

Kaili Yu

The Chinese U. of Hong Kong
HZ

Huanxi Zhang

The Chinese U. of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
YZ

Yanglei Zheng

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

Traditional entrepreneurship research views optimism as a trait predisposing individuals to entrepreneurial activities. We offer a dynamic perspective and examine whether and how entrepreneurship fosters optimism based on longitudinal data on 2,181 individuals (7,737 observations) from 2008 to 2024. Using two-way fixed effects regressions, we find preliminary evidence that the transition into entrepreneurship increases optimism compared to non-entrepreneurs. Moreover, the effect is more pronounced for men and during the early stages of entrepreneurship. We find similar patterns through an additional continuous time structural equation modeling (CTSEM) analysis. These findings highlight the transformative nature of entrepreneurship in cultivating optimism and that this effect varies across contexts.

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