Is it dangerous to say that entrepreneurs are heroes? (Part 2)

This is an addition to yesterday's post Is it dangerous to say that entrepreneurs are heroes?

See Does Congruence with an Entrepreneur Social Identity Encourage Positive Emotion Under Environmental Dynamism? by Charles Murnieks, Jeffery S. McMullen & Melissa S. Cardon. From 2017.

Here are excerpts. The part where they mention heroes is mentioned it is in bold red. Where they mention my name is in bold blue within the red.

"Introduction 

Comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell (1949) suggests that most cultures have some version of a “mono-myth,” which describes a journey that heroic individuals undertake in pursuit of a valuable goal amidst highly uncertain or perilous conditions. At the beginning of this journey, the protagonist rarely perceives himself as heroic, and is reluctant to depart on his quest because the dangers involved seem overwhelming. However, as the journey unfolds, the protagonist undergoes a transformation. By experiencing trials and tribulation, and successfully overcoming challenges, the protagonist becomes a hero. He experiences elation at achieving his goal despite tremendous adversity, and begins to view himself differently in the process. The mono-myth narrative is informative because it highlights the tension between the hero and a hostile environment. Even though the hero is afraid and reluctant to embark on the journey, the environment is fundamental in helping him to develop. By achieving his goal despite adversity, he feels heroic. Ironically, the intense hostility of the environment is actually what makes the story compelling, because it creates a background against which the protagonist’s actions are viewed as difficult and ultimately valiant, instead of mundane and ordinary.

Entrepreneurship scholars highlight similarities between Campbell’s mythological hero and the entrepreneur of entrepreneurship theory (Catford and Ray 1991; McMullen and Dimov 2013; Morong 1994). Morong (1994), in particular, illustrates how Schumpeter’s existentialistic portrayal of the entrepreneur offers an economic equivalent of Campbell’s archetype. Schumpeter’s (1934) entrepreneur undertakes a journey into an environment filled with uncertainty and peril where others fear to tread. Theoretical portrayals of the entrepreneur, such as Schumpeter’s (1934) or Knight’s (1921), are not isolated musings; they are part of the progressive revelation of the entrepreneur’s economic role in a market-based society. 

Although we employ the mono-myth narrative to emphasize the importance of the environment in the self-construal of the entrepreneur, we are mindful of scholars who caution against taking this metaphor too far and characterizing entrepreneurs as iconic superheroes imbued with extraordinary qualities (Ogbor 2000; Williams and Nadin 2013). They warn that entrepreneurs are not atomistic agents of change isolated from social influence (Dodd and Anderson 2007). They also remind us of the body of trait research that has failed to define the psychological profile of the fabled entrepreneurial “hero” (Gartner 1989). Perhaps most relevant to our investigation, these scholars caution against undersocialized methodologies that favor mythical depictions while ignoring consideration of the surrounding environment and how it impacts the entrepreneur’s journey. We wholly concur that entrepreneurship is more than an individualistic act and entrepreneurs themselves must be studied as social animals connected to context (Bruyat and Julien 2001; Dodd and Anderson 2007). Our reference to the mono-myth is meant to reinforce the idea that entrepreneurs do not develop their self-portrayals absent external input. Rather, the opposite is true; their selfperception is tied to their surroundings. Despite the emergence of studies that are beginning to explore how socio-environmental factors influence entrepreneurs (e.g., Fauchart and Gruber 2011; Powell and Baker 2014), significant gaps still exist concerning the black box of different facets that are influenced and the manner in which these interactions occur. An empirical void still surrounds the specific constructs involved and the nature of their relationships. We address these gaps, by focusing explicitly on entrepreneur social identities and the positive emotions they generate. This approach is valuable because it integrates social influences (in the form of social identities) and environmental factors to determine how they impact one very specific, and important, aspect of the entrepreneurial journey: the feelings the individual experiences as s/ he works to found a new enterprise. 

Social identities are cognitive schemas that incorporate meaning and expectations into social structure, thus translating general prescriptions for perception and feeling into specific imperatives at the individual level (Mead 1934; Stryker and Burke 2000). The entrepreneur social identity encompasses a host of characteristics that demarcate it from others in society. For this study, we concentrate on entrepreneur social identities defined by a connection to creating and founding1 new organizations (Bruyat and Julien 2001; Gartner 1989, 1990). We contend that as individuals grow closer to the prototype of the entrepreneur social identity, positive emotion (PE) is generated. Moreover, we posit that the environment plays a key role in how the individual interprets the journey toward achieving congruence with the entrepreneur social identity. Thus, this paper addresses two primary research questions: (1) what is the effect of social identity congruence on entrepreneurs’ positive emotions, and (2) how does environmental dynamism moderate this relationship? 

In a manner analogous to the mono-myth narrative, we argue that dynamic environments which appear turbulent may facilitate an individual’s entrepreneurial journey. Whereas environmental dynamism is a deterrent to the average everyman, it may increase the PE generated among entrepreneurs. Our logic draws from other social identities that call on actors to exhibit prototypical characteristics within perilous environments. For example, soldiers and firemen both seek to conform to their social identities despite threats to their own lives inherent in doing so. Their assumption of the characteristics prototypical of these identities is made heroic to some extent by the environment in which they operate. Typically, carrying a child out of a house on a normal day may not be viewed as valiant or result in high levels of PE. However, undertaking this action in a war zone, or when a house is burning and engulfed in flames, changes the meaning of the action as well as the generation of emotion. In this sense, achieving congruence with the social identity of a soldier or a fireman, amidst a challenging environment, yields higher positive emotion. In fact, it is possible that this PE satisfies “the need to feel alive” which Campbell claims underlies life’s vicissitudes and results from overcoming one’s fears to act courageously in the face of daunting surroundings." 

"Conclusion 

Our purpose in this study was to undertake an empirical investigation of the interaction between how entrepreneurs view themselves and how the external environment acts to influence those perceptions. Our findings lend credence to the fact that positive emotion among individual entrepreneurs is influenced by the congruence an individual experiences between their self-concept and the social identity of entrepreneur, an effect that is heightened by environmental dynamism. We take up the line of research initiated by Farmer, Yao, and KungMcintyre (2011) into entrepreneur identities, and hope to open the door to further empirical investigations into the burgeoning theories and questions that are developing in this stream. Some scholars suggest that civilization is a story about our endless attempt to reduce uncertainty and control our environment (North 2005). This highlights the importance the environment plays in our own existential struggle to achieve effectance. Indeed, Campbell (1949) argues that our primal drive is not the will to pleasure or power, but rather the simple desire to feel alive and that this comes from overcoming uncertainty."