Sample 41

Int Entrep Manag J (2017) 13:1043–1068
DOI 10.1007/s11365-017-0435-x
Entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture

performance in China
Cuiping Ma 1 & Jibao Gu 1 & Hefu Liu 1
Published online: 15 February 2017

# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017
Abstract This study investigates the mediating role of organizational innovation in the
relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance in China.
We also examine the moderating role of the Zhong-yong thinking of entrepreneurs in
the abovementioned relationship to explore the influencing mechanism of entrepre-
neurs’ passion in non-Western societies. Results from 154 Chinese new ventures
support the positive relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture
performance and the mediating role of organizational innovation. The Zhong-yong
thinking of entrepreneurs can also strengthen the relationship between entrepreneurs’
passion and organizational innovation. Finally, the theoretical and practical implica-
tions of these findings are discussed.
Keywords Entrepreneurs’ passion . China . Organizational innovation . New venture

performance . Entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking
Introduction
Entrepreneurs’ passion, defined as the positive emotions that entrepreneurs possess

toward entrepreneurial work (Ho and Pollack 2014), has been widely recognized as an
important determinant of entrepreneurs success (Baum et al. 2001; Syed and Mueller
* Jibao Gu
[email protected]
Cuiping Ma
[email protected]
Hefu Liu
[email protected]
1
The School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), No.96,
Jinzhai Road, Baohe District, Hefei, Anhui, China
1044 Int Entrep Manag J (2017) 13:1043–1068
2015). Entrepreneurship is a lengthy and challenging process, which is full of uncer-

tainties, risks, and obstacles (Gielnik et al. 2015). Under this condition, entrepreneurs’
passion is important because it ensures that entrepreneurs invest sufficient effort and
time to entrepreneurial actions (Drnovsek et al. 2009). Previous studies presented that
entrepreneurs’ passion can lead to many beneficial outcomes, such as entrepreneurial
efficacy (Murnieks et al. 2014), entrepreneurial efforts (Foo et al. 2009), entrepreneurial
persistence (Cardon and Kirk 2015), entrepreneurial intentions (De Clercq et al. 2012;
Biraglia and Kadile 2016), entrepreneurial alertness (Syed and Mueller 2015), effective
communication (Baum and Locke 2004), goal challenge and goal commitment
(Drnovsek et al. 2016), creative problem solving (Cardon et al. 2009a), and individual
financial performance (Ho and Pollack 2014).
Although the benefits of entrepreneurs’ passion have been widely acknowledged in
the entrepreneurship literature, at least three important questions remain unaddressed.
First, the understanding of the influencing mechanism of entrepreneurs’ passion on
organizational performance remains limited (Drnovsek et al. 2016). Specifically, some
scholars explored the mediating role of individual variables (e.g., goal and self-effica-
cy) in the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and venture growth (Baum and
Locke 2004; Biraglia and Kadile 2016). However, few studies empirically investigated
the mediating role of organizational factors through which entrepreneurs’ passion
influences organizational outcomes (Syed and Mueller 2015; Drnovsek et al. 2016).
Baum et al. (2001) indicated that organizational variables, especially organizational
innovation, may serve as an important mediator. Entrepreneurs’ passion, such as
passion for inventing new products or services to meet new market needs and finding
new ways to motivate employees and other stakeholders, can promote their ventures to
focus on innovative strategy, which improves organizational innovation (Cardon et al.
2009a; Baron et al. 2012). Given the increasingly hyper-competitive environment,
organizational innovation is key for a new venture’s survival and development
(Rosenbusch et al. 2011; Ramadani et al. 2016). In this view, empirically examining
organizational innovation as one of the mediating mechanisms linking entrepreneurs’
passion to venture performance is important for new ventures.
Second, the existing literature on entrepreneurs’ passion largely missed the comple-
mentary role of entrepreneurs’ cognition for passion during entrepreneurship (Baron
1998; Baron 2008; Michl et al. 2009; Welpe et al. 2012; Omorede et al. 2015). The
literature suggests that although emotion and cognition are two distinct systems for
processing information, they can interact in complex ways during decision making
(Grichnik et al. 2010). Entrepreneurship typically involves emotional and cognitive
journeys (Mitchell et al. 2007; Baron 2008; Cardon et al. 2012). This situation indicates
that both entrepreneurs’ emotion (i.e., passion) and cognition should be considered
when investigating entrepreneurship issues. Michl et al. (2009), for example, noted that
the entrepreneurship context Bcreate(s) a fundamental understanding of how emotions
influence decision-making and how they interact with cognitions in decision-making
processes^ (p.181).
Third, scholars noted that Bemotional experience is largely culturally determined^
(Tsai et al. 2006, p. 288). This observation indicates that although entrepreneurs’
passion, as a positive emotion, is effective in one national culture, it may result in
different outcomes in another national culture. In the existing literature on entrepre-
neurs’ passion, most studies emphasized Western societies, and few studies paid
Int Entrep Manag J (2017) 13:1043–1068 1045
attention to non-Western societies, especially China (Su et al. 2015; Jing et al. 2015).
As one of the largest recipients of foreign investment (UNCTAD 2015), China has
attracted many foreign companies to conduct business with Chinese new ventures, and
an increasing number of foreign venture capitals and angel investments find investment
opportunities in China. Nevertheless, given the different culture of China, the existing
Western-developed management theories would be not applicable to manage firms in
China directly (Tsui 2004; Welter 2011). Under this condition, understanding the
effects of entrepreneurs’ passion on new venture performance in China is important
for foreign companies.
In this study, we address the abovementioned gaps by examining the mediating role
of organizational innovation and the moderating role of entrepreneurs’ cognitive style
in the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance in
China. Specifically, to respond to the call by scholars (e.g., Zapalska and Edwards
2001; Krueger et al. 2013; Su et al. 2015) to consider Chinese cultural context in
exploring entrepreneurship, our study focuses on Zhong-yong thinking, the pervasive
and important cognitive style among Chinese entrepreneurs (Liao and Sohmen 2001;
Li 2009). Zhong-yong thinking is defined as the entrepreneurs’ cognitive style, which
Bconsiders things carefully from different perspectives, avoids going to extremes,
behaves in situationally appropriate ways, and maintains harmony^ (Ji et al. 2010,
p.158). Figure 1 depicts the conceptual model.
Theoretical framework and hypotheses
Chinese context
The economy of China has experienced rapid growth (Chen and Miller 2010), making
China the world’s second largest economy (Barboza 2010) and one of the largest
recipients of foreign investment (UNCTAD 2015). An increasing number of foreign
companies have expanded their businesses in China by establishing branches, collab-
orating with Chinese indigenous firms, and finding investment opportunities (Cai et al.
2016). This scenario indicates that China has become an indispensable part of the
global economy, and Chinese firms are playing an important role in international
business. In China, domestic entrepreneurial firms, including private new ventures,
are becoming Bone of the most important driving forces behind China’s rapid economic
development^ (Yang and Li 2008, p. 335). These firms have experienced rapid
Entrepreneurs
Zhong-yong
Thinking
Entrepreneurs Organizational New Venture

Passion Innovation Performance
Fig. 1 Research model

development during the three decades of sustained market-oriented economic reform.

Given China’s transformation from innovation imitation stage to incremental innova-
tion stage, especially with the increasingly intense global competition, a growing
number of organizations (including new ventures) emphasize innovative strategy,
investing substantial resources to building their own innovative capacity (Zhang and
Duan 2010; Cai et al. 2015). Recently, the Chinese central government has eliminated
many policies to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so new ventures and
organizational innovation in China are growing rapidly (Tse 2016). The Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor project reported that 73.1% of the surveyed Chinese consider
entrepreneurship as a good career choice. The project has ranked China among top
countries for Total Early-stage Entrepreneurship Activities and New Business
Ownership Rate (Kelley et al. 2012). However, according to China’s white papers on
human resource management in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the
average life of SMEs is only 2.5 years (Hrkey 2012).
In the course of globalization, Chinese firms have been widely embedded into the
global economy. They are actively joining the global business and learning Western
business, management, values, and cultures. Although China is integrating with the
West in many aspects and Chinese managers are changing their values and behaviors
to follow international business values, some traditional Chinese values continue to
play significant roles in managing Chinese firms (Ip 2009). For example, Zhong-yong
thinking, a Confucian value, remains strong in China, and it deeply affects Chinese
mindsets and behaviors and even Chinese firms’ strategy and development (Fang and
Faure 2011). Zhong-yong thinking normally emphasizes looking at the whole picture
when scrutinizing a context, behaving in situationally appropriate manner, and then
achieving or maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationships (Ji et al. 2010).
Zhong-yong thinking features three characteristics: holistic thinking, perspective inte-
gration, and harmony maintenance. In particular, holistic thinking requires individuals
to consider things carefully from different aspects, promotes individuals to deliberate
situations from a global standpoint and make comprehensive decisions (Yao et al.
2010; Chou et al. 2014). Perspective integration involves integrating one’s and others’
perspectives after considering different perspectives, which can facilitate a reasonable
resolution as compromising approaches are adopted for resolving conflicting forces (Ji
et al. 2010). Harmony maintenance is the core of Zhong-yong thinking, because
harmony is the ultimate goal of holistic thinking and perspective integration (Wu
and Lin 2005).
Entrepreneurs’ passion
Baron (2008) stressed the critical role of emotion in entrepreneurship. After Baron’s
(2008) seminal work, entrepreneurship scholars have increasingly focused on the
emotion aspect of entrepreneurship, especially the intense positive emotion, that is,
entrepreneurs’ passion (Jennings et al. 2015). Entrepreneurs’ passion is defined as
Bconsciously accessible intense positive feelings experienced by engagement in entre-
preneurial activities associated with roles that are meaningful and salient to the self-
identity of the entrepreneur^ (Cardon et al. 2009a, p. 517).
The literature indicates that entrepreneurs’ passion can exert a powerful effect on
individual behaviors and decisions. For example, entrepreneurs’ passion can increase
entrepreneurs’ belief that they can succeed as an entrepreneur (Murnieks et al. 2014).
Such passion can also increase entrepreneurs’ alertness for new market or technological
opportunities (Syed and Mueller 2015), activate entrepreneurs’ creative problem solv-
ing (Cardon et al. 2009a), and improve entrepreneurs’ cognitive flexibility (Baron et al.
2012). In addition, entrepreneurial passion can drive entrepreneurs to devote consider-
able effort toward entrepreneurial actions (Foo et al. 2009), improve entrepreneurial
persistence (Cardon and Kirk 2015), promote their effective communication (Baum and
Locke 2004), and set challenging goals and improve goal commitment (Drnovsek et al.
2016). Moreover, the literature presents that entrepreneurs’ passion increases entrepre-
neurs’ emotional display, which may improve employees’ organizational commitment
and passion (Cardon 2008; Breugst et al. 2012) as well as encourage investors to
provide funds and money for new ventures (Cardon et al. 2009b; Chen et al. 2009;
Mitteness et al. 2012).
Recently, some scholars indicated that entrepreneurs’ passion may act as a critical
factor for the success of new ventures (Syed and Mueller 2015). However, Baum et al.
(2001) argued that the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and venture growth
may be indirect, and this relationship can be mediated by entrepreneurs’ individual
variables (e.g., competency and motivation) and organizational variables (e.g., innova-
tion). For example, Baum and Locke (2004) empirically explored the role of passion in
venture performance, and they found that passion influences ventures through the
vision, goals, and self-efficacy of entrepreneurs. Drnovsek et al. (2016) also concluded
that although entrepreneurs’ passion can be directly related to venture growth, but it can
be indirectly related to new ventures through the goal setting and commitment of
entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance
According to the existing literature on entrepreneurs’ passion, we propose that entrepre-

neurs’ passion can be positively associated with new venture performance because of
entrepreneurs’ intense positive feelings for entrepreneurial work and entrepreneurial role
identities. Specifically, entrepreneurs’ passion ensures that entrepreneurs possess intense
positive feelings to set challenging goals (Baron et al. 2011). Such challenging goals can
activate entrepreneurs’ self-regulation in pursuing goals and mobilizing energy and
cognition resources to cope with entrepreneurial challenges and obstacles (Baron et al.
2012). In pursuing challenging goals, entrepreneurs engage in deliberate practices to
acquire entrepreneurial skills, and these practices can lead to superior venture perfor-
mance (Vallerand et al. 2007; Baron and Tang 2008). In addition, intense positive feelings
stimulate entrepreneurs to display strong positive emotions, which can be transferred to
the people who interact with them (Barsade 2002). Entrepreneurs do not act alone in the
venture creation and development stage; they must obtain financial resources from
investors and motivate employees to contribute human resource to support a new venture
(Cardon 2008). Intense positive feelings can help entrepreneurs persuade target stake-
holders (e.g., investors and employees) to invest their resources (e.g., money, effort, time,
and human capital) in the new venture (Chen et al. 2009; Mitteness et al. 2012; Breugst
et al. 2012). The financial and human capital resources obtained from investors and
employees can help new ventures overcome the Bliabilities of newness^ and achieve
superior performance (Stinchcombe and March 1965; Barney et al. 2001).
Entrepreneurial role identities are linked to entrepreneurial actions and outcomes

(Alsos et al. 2016). Entrepreneurial role identities drive entrepreneurs’ immersion in
entrepreneurial activities, such as searching for opportunities, attaining and assembling
resources needed for venture survival or growth, developing new markets, and creating
new methods to approach customers along with new goods or services (Cardon et al.
2013; Yitshaki and Kropp 2016). Given their immersion in entrepreneurial activities,
entrepreneurs are hardly perturbed by uncertainty in the environment and can easily
overcome impediments (Baum and Locke 2004). Thus, they become effective and
successful in accomplishing entrepreneurial activities (Ho et al. 2011). Excellent
accomplishment of entrepreneurial activities also contributes to superior new venture
performance by increasing customers and market shares (Cardon et al. 2009a).
The above logics behind the influences of entrepreneurs’ passion on new
ventures may be cross-validated in the Chinese context. In China, power distance
is high and authority is respected and obeyed, and, thus, entrepreneurs in Chinese
new ventures have greater authority and can exert considerable influence on
organizations and employees (Hofstede and Hofstede 2001). In Chinese societies,
entrepreneurs in new ventures are viewed as the leader, and they act as the role
model of organizations (Zhang et al. 2014). On one hand, entrepreneurs devote
much energy to entrepreneurial activities to act as the entrepreneurial role model
in organizations to promote venture performance. On the other hand, employees
follow and learn to be passionate for new ventures from entrepreneurs and
ultimately contribute their resources to new ventures. Taking these aspects togeth-
er, entrepreneurs’ passion is expected to be positively related to new venture
performance in China.
Hypothesis 1 Entrepreneurs’ passion is positively related to new venture

performance.
Mediating role of organizational innovation
Upper echelon theory suggests that the characteristics of top managers affect organi-
zational strategy or behavior, which, in turn, affects organizational performance
(Hambrick and Mason 1984). Entrepreneurship research proposes that entrepreneurs’
passion contributes to new venture performance through several mediators (Baum and
Locke 2004; Biraglia and Kadile 2016). Baum et al. (2001) claimed that entrepreneurs’
passion is not directly related to new venture growth, and organizational innovation
may mediate this relationship. Considering these inferences, we propose that organi-
zational innovation mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new
venture performance.
Organizational innovation is defined as Bthe tendency of the organization to
develop new or improved product/ services and its success in bringing those
product/ services to the market^ (Gumusluoglu and Ilsev 2009, p. 464). This defini-
tion includes two key elements. (1) A strategic orientation to develop new products or
services (Huse et al. 2005) is the first element, which reflects the entrepreneurial
orientation of a venture and is consistent with Thornhill’s (2006) comment on
innovation as a strategic choice; (2) Successful creation and implementation of new
products or services is the second element, which reflects the behavioral perspective
of organizational innovation (Calantone et al. 2002).
Organizational innovation plays a critical role in obtaining competitive advantages
and achieving superior organizational performance, especially in constantly changing
environments (Wong et al. 2005; Ireland and Webb 2007). As top managers can decide
on organizational strategies and affect the work attitudes and behaviors of the members
in an organization (Hambrick and Mason 1984), many studies explored the determi-
nants of organizational innovation from a top manager’s perspective. This determinants
include transformational leadership (Makri and Scandura 2010), overconfidence
(Galasso and Simcoe 2011), and human and social capital (Lin et al. 2011). In addition,
scholars explored the role of innovation in linking top managers and organizational
performance. For example, García-Morales et al. (2012) found that transformational
leadership is positively related to organizational innovation, which, in turn, contributes
to organizational performance.
In recent years, scholars paid increasing interest to the role of top managers’ emotion
and explored the effects of top mangers’ emotion on organizational innovation
(Delgado-García et al. 2010). For example, Lockyer and McCabe (2010) proposed that
considering top managers’ emotion can enhance understanding of organizational inno-
vation. Baron and Tang (2011) also found that entrepreneurs’ positive affect can
improve their creativity, which, in turn, provides Braw materials^ for organizational
innovation.
Entrepreneurs’ passion can improve organizational innovation. We argue this
hypothesis based on the suggestion of Forgas and George (2001), who stated that
emotion influences an organization through the process and content of thinking. First,
passion drives entrepreneurs to seek variety, which makes them open to substantial
information as well as perceptive toward and well versed in a wide array of infor-
mation and ideas (Isen 2002). For example, entrepreneurs with high passion can
notice and collect much information about the existing and potential markets, cus-
tomers, and new technologies. Passion can also enhance the cognitive flexibility and
creative thinking of entrepreneurs (Ashby and Isen 1999), enabling them to find and
create new or unusual associations, such as creative combinations of technology or
crossovers from other industries (Isen 2001). Perception of much information and
creative thinking help entrepreneurs find or create more creative associations and
enable them to engage in creative actions, such as finding entrepreneurial opportuni-
ties, implementing creative ideas and products, and developing new means to ap-
proach potential customers and investors (Cardon et al. 2009a).
Second, passionate entrepreneurs value creativity and innovation, and, thus, the
content of their thinking focuses on creativity and innovation (Baron and Tang
2011). We argue according to upper echelon theory, which suggests that top managers
make strategic choices for their organizations based on their own values (Hambrick and
Mason 1984). We believe that entrepreneurs’ passion can help entrepreneurs use
innovation as a strategy of their own venture. The existing literature also indicates that
entrepreneurs’ emotion powerfully affects organizational culture, that is, the shared
values, ideologies, and beliefs within an organization, especially a small and new
venture (Staw and Barsade 1993; Delgado-García et al. 2010; Baron et al. 2012).
Baum and Locke (2004) stated that entrepreneurs’ characteristics are central to defining
work environment and organizational culture. Considering these findings, we believe
that passion encourages entrepreneurs to produce an innovative culture in new ven-

tures. In innovative cultures, employees are encouraged to think Bout of the box^ and
yield creative ideas and solutions, without worrying about being punished because of
failures in creative work (Amabile 1998; Škerlavaj et al. 2010). In summary, innovative
strategy and culture can lead new ventures to produce and implement many new
products and services (Akman and Yilmaz 2008; Gumusluoglu and Ilsev 2009).
The mediating relationship is premised on the notion that organizational innovation
contributes to superior new venture performance. Innovation is identified as an impor-
tant factor in new venture performance (Wong et al. 2005; Ireland and Webb 2007).
When new ventures engage in a high level of innovation, they tend to survive and
prosper (Li and Atuahene-Gima 2001). Organizational innovation can help new ven-
tures identify innovative opportunities and pursue new ones, which can generate large
returns (Stam and Elfring 2008; Wiklund and Shepherd 2005). Innovation also enables
new ventures create new markets and increase market value and share by introducing
new products and technologies, which can generate extraordinary financial perfor-
mance (Lumpkin and Dess 1996). Innovation provides new ventures with competitive
advantages by making imitation difficult for competitors, leading to improved organi-
zational performance (García-Morales et al. 2012). In addition, innovation helps new
ventures responds capably to turbulent environments, thereby promoting superior
performance (Rhee et al. 2010). Accordingly, we propose the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 2 Entrepreneurs’ passion is positively related to organizational

innovation.
Hypothesis 3 Organizational innovation is positively related to new venture
performance.
Hypothesis 4 Organizational innovation mediates the relationship between entre-
preneurs’ passion and new venture performance.
Moderating role of entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking
The existing literature indicates that emotion and cognition are interactive mechanisms
that influence the reasoning and behaviors of individuals (Forgas and George 2001).
Scholars noted that cognition affects the influence of emotion on behaviors. Forgas
(1995) proposed that emotions exert an increased effect on individual behaviors when
individuals engage in complex cognitive strategy. Forgas and George (2001) noted that
Ba clearer understanding of how affective states and cognitive processes interact thus
represents one of the most promising avenues for explaining affective influences on
organizational behavior^ (p.7). Recently, the entrepreneurship literature highlights that
entrepreneurship is an emotional and cognitive journey, and the importance of
affective-cognitive factors in entrepreneurship should be considered (Baron 2008;
Cardon et al. 2009a). Thus, the present study responds to this call and proposes that
entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking affects the relationship between entrepreneurs’
passion and organizational innovation.
Zhong-yong thinking is defined as a cognitive thinking style that Bconsiders things
carefully from different perspectives, avoids going to extremes, behaves in situationally
appropriate ways, and maintains harmony^ (Ji et al. 2010, p. 158). This type of thinking
is a pervasive and important cognitive thinking among Chinese entrepreneurs (Li

2009). Entrepreneurs with Zhong-yong thinking emphasize harmonious interpersonal
relationships (Wu and Lin 2005). To achieve harmony, entrepreneurs take a holistic
perspective for situations and information, effectively integrate information and per-
spectives, and take suitable actions that avoid conflict (Ji et al. 2010). The existing
literature pays attention to the effects of Zhong-yong thinking on innovation. For
example, Yao et al. (2010) found that employee’s Zhong-yong thinking minimizes
the positive relationship between employee creativity and innovation behaviors.
Zhong-yong thinking provides entrepreneurs with the capacity to effectively inte-
grate external information, scrutinize different perspectives, select an optimal compro-
mise, amidst conflicting forces, and maintain harmony in work environment (Ji et al.
2010; Paletz and Peng 2009). Thus, we expect entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking to
influence the effects of entrepreneurs’ passion on organizational innovation by affecting
the thinking process and emotion contagion of entrepreneurs. First, Zhong-yong think-
ing can provide entrepreneurs with a holistic cognitive capacity to effectively integrate
large amounts of information, such as selecting useful information after considering all
the alternatives. Scholars noted that entrepreneurs’ passion can enhance individuals’
alertness to their environment, which helps them to perceive a wide array of informa-
tion (Isen 2002; Syed and Mueller 2015). High Zhong-yong thinking allows passionate
entrepreneurs to effectively assimilate and apply various information to innovation.
Thus, Zhong-yong thinking helps entrepreneurs make new associations or connections
to create new products or services.
Second, Zhong-yong thinking helps entrepreneurs consider employees’ opinions or
ideas and reduce conflict with employees by choosing an optional compromise (Ji et al.
2010), thus leading to employees identifying with entrepreneurs (Breugst et al. 2012).
Specifically, entrepreneurs’ passion stimulates entrepreneurs to value creativity and
innovation in an organization. In addition, entrepreneurs’ passion focusing on creativity
and innovation can be transfer to employee creative behaviors (Breugst et al. 2012).
This process is a type of emotion contagion, which only occurs when employees
identify with entrepreneurs (Barsade 2002). Thus, we believe that entrepreneurs’
Zhong-yong thinking strengthens the transfer of entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial passion
to employee creative behaviors, which contribute to organizational innovation.
Accordingly, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 5 The relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational

innovation is moderated by entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking, such that the
relationship is significantly stronger when entrepreneurs possess high Zhong-yong
thinking.
Cumulatively, the preceding predictions show a first-stage moderation (Edwards and

Lambert 2007), such that the mediating effects of organizational innovation on the
relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance are moder-
ated by entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking. Therefore, we predict the following:
Hypothesis 6 The indirect relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new

venture performance through organizational innovation is moderated by entrepre-
neurs’ Zhong-yong thinking.
Method
Questionnaire
We employed the questionnaire survey method to test the hypotheses. We first

prepared the questionnaire in English. Several doctoral students in management
were invited to translate the questionnaire into Chinese. Master students majoring
in linguistics subsequently translated the Chinese version back to English to
ensure accuracy (Brislin 1980). After several rounds of modifications, we
corrected discrepancies between the two versions to ensure faithfulness and
expressiveness. Afterwards, two scholars from the areas of entrepreneurship and
organization management were invited to review the questionnaire to ensure
content validity. Finally, we conducted a pilot test with seven entrepreneurs to
check whether they could understand the items accurately. The final questionnaire
was modified based on the suggestions and comments provided by these scholars
and entrepreneurs.
Sample
For our samples, we chose new ventures from the Yangtze River Delta, the largest
economic area in China. Specifically, we followed the existing literature and
defined new ventures as firms younger than eight years (Tocher et al. 2012).
With the difficulties (e.g., top executives’ distrust and unwillingness to respond) in
collecting data from Chinese organizations (e.g., Peng and Luo 2000; Zhou et al.
2007), we collaborated with the local Economic and Information Committee (EIC)
to conduct this survey. As an administrative department, EIC provides technology
supports and information services to local enterprises, so it keeps close contact
with firms. EIC provided us with a sampling list of 400 new ventures located in
the industrial parks of the Yangzi River Delta, which is one of China’s most
developed manufacturing center. With the assistance of EIC, we contacted the
entrepreneurs of these 400 new ventures and invited them to participate in the
survey. These entrepreneurs were selected as the key informant because they
possess good understanding of their own ventures (Goel et al. 2013). Finally,
250 new ventures agreed to participate.
We mailed 250 paper questionnaires to the entrepreneurs of these new ventures
after we obtained their agreement. Finally, 176 questionnaires were returned,
among which 154 were complete (all the items in the questionnaire had been
answered). The response rate is 61.6%. Table 1 shows the background information
of the new ventures and their entrepreneurs. The results present that most new
ventures in the final sample are manufacturing firms, which account for 84.4%.
The average age of the new ventures is 5.57 years, and 22.7% of them are younger
than 3 years, 28.6% are within the range of 4–6 years, and 48.7 are within the
range of 7–8 years. In terms of firm asset, 33.8% are less than 10 million RMB,
24.0% are between 10 and 20 million RMB, 9.7% are between 20 and 30 million
RMB, and 32.5% are more than 30 million RMB. Among the 154 entrepreneurs
who participated in the survey, 90.3% are male. The average age of the entrepre-
neurs is 42.43 years. In terms of educational degree, 34.4% of the participants
Table 1 Description of the sample
No. Percentage
Industry
Manufacturing 130 84.4%
others 24 15.6%
Firm age
1–3 years 35 22.7%
4–6 years 44 28.6%
7–8 years 75 48.7%
Firm asset
0–10 million 52 33.8%
10–20 million 37 24.0%
20–30 million 15 9.7%
Beyond 30 million 50 32.5%
Age of entrepreneur
Below 30 years 14 9.1%
31–40 years 41 26.6%
41–50 years 81 52.6%
51–60 years 18 11.7%
Gender of entrepreneur
Male 139 90.3%
Female 15 9.7%
Educational degree of entrepreneur
High school 53 34.4%
Associate 72 46.8%
Bachelor 25 16.2%
Master 4 2.6%
N = 154
have a high school degree, 46.8% have an associate’s degree, 16.2% have a
bachelor’s degree, and only 2.6% have a master’s degree.
We further checked for the non-response bias by comparing the difference between
the responding and non-responding new ventures in terms of firm age, size and industry
through an unpaired T-test. The results demonstrate that t-statistics (firm age t = −0.438;
firm industry t = 0.686; firm assets t = 0.057) are non-significant (Armstrong and
Overton 1977).
Measures
The measures used to test entrepreneurs’ passion, organizational innovation, Zhong-

yong thinking, new venture performance, and control variables were adopted from the
existing literature, thus ensuring the validity of the constructs. All of the items (reported
in the Appendix Table 8) used five-point Likert scales ranging from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly disagree).
Entrepreneurs’ passion We measured entrepreneurs’ passion using the scale devel-

oped by Cardon and her coworkers (Cardon et al. 2013). Entrepreneurs’ passion is a
multifaceted construct consisting of three dimensions: inventing passion, founding
passion, and developing passion. We used twelve items measuring entrepreneurs’
passion. An example of an item is BIt is exciting to figure out new ways to solve unmet
market needs that can be commercialized.^
Organizational innovation This study defines organizational innovation as Bthe ten-

dency of the organization to develop new or improved products/services and its success
in bringing those products/services to the market.^ (Gumusluoglu and Ilsev 2009, p.
467). Therefore, we adopted the three-item measures from Covin and Slevin (1989) to
test organizational innovation. These measures can reflect strategic tendency and
innovative behavior. An examples of an item is BOur firm has a strong emphasis on
R&D, technological leadership, and innovation.^
Zhong-yong thinking In this study, we define Zhong-yong thinking as a multidimen-

sional construct. We adopted the scale developed by Wu and Lin (2005), which divided
Zhong-yong thinking into three dimensions, namely, multi-perspective thinking, inte-
gration, and harmony orientation, to measure entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking. An
example of an item is BI am accustomed to think from different angles.^
New venture performance Although scholars used various measures to test new
venture performance (Tocher et al. 2012), collecting objective data of new venture
performance in China remains a major challenge (Peng and Luo 2000). As such, most
studies on the performance of Chinese new ventures utilized perceived performance as
measurement (Li and Zhang 2007; Guo et al. 2014; Grande et al. 2011). Following the
work of Chen (2009), we used a four-item scale to measure new venture performance.
The measures tested new venture performance in terms of sales, profit, market, and
return on equity (Chen 2009; Guo et al. 2014). An example of an item is BI am satisfied
with the firm’s performance relative to my firm’s major competitors in terms of sales.^
Control variables Five control variables were included. At the firm level, we included
firm age and firm assets. Firm age was measured by the number of years from the firm’s
founding to the present. Firm assets were measured by the number of the firm’s total
assets. At the individual level, we assessed entrepreneurs’ gender, age, and education.
Data analysis and results
Validity and reliability
The PLS software was used to assess the reliability and validity of the multi-item
measurement scale. First, we used Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability to test the
variables’ reliability. As shown in Table 2, the values of Cronbach^s alpha range from
0.86–0.95, well above the benchmark value of 0.70. Composite reliability values range
from 0.91–0.96, all greater than 0.70. Thereafter, we tested convergent validity through
the average variance extracted (AVE) and the loading of the items. The AVE scores
range from 0.60–0.85 and are above the benchmark value of 0.50, and the loadings of
all items range from 0.63–0.93. The results indicate that the measurement has adequate
convergent validity.
Table 2 Summary statistics of the measurement analysis
Variables Loading Cronbach α Composite Reliability AVE
Entrepreneurs’ passion 0.63–0.85 0.94 0.95 0.60

Entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking 0.71–0.85 0.95 0.95 0.62
Organizational Innovation 0.84–0.93 0.86 0.91 0.78
New venture Performance 0.90–0.93 0.94 0.96 0.85
Finally, we assessed discriminant validity by comparing the relationship between the

square roots of the AVEs for all constructs and the correlations between constructs. As
shown in Table 3, the smallest value of the AVE square roots is greater than the largest
value of the correlations between constructs, which indicates that our measurement
exhibits satisfactory discriminant validity.
Common method bias
We collected data from a single source simultaneously, which raises an issue of

common method variance (CMV). We used several procedural methods to minimize
CMV and employed statistical techniques to evaluate the magnitude of CMV.
Following Harrison et al. (1996), we used a multi-item construct to avoid CMV
because CMV mainly appeared at item level rather than construct level (Harrison
et al. 1996). Subsequently, we used reversed items in the questionnaire to avoid
potential CMV. Finally, using Harman’s one-factor test, we checked for potential
CMA (Podsakoff and Organ 1986). We entered all the items for an exploratory factor
analysis. The result shows six factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 account for 75.9%
of the total variance, and the first factor only accounts for 21.8% of the variance.
Therefore, CMV is not a serious problem in our survey.
Hypothesis testing
Multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. As shown in Table 4, we
formed three hierarchical regressions to test the mediating mechanism. In Model 1,
control variables were regressed to organizational innovation, explaining 4% of the
Table 3 Means, SDs and correlations
Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Firm age 5.75 2.08

2. Firm asset 7.13 1.76 .02
3. Entrepreneur age 42.43 7.60 .06 .20*
4. Entrepreneur gender 1.10 0.30 .12 -.16* -.21**
5. Entrepreneur Education 2.81 0.87 -.09 .26** -.20* -.01
6. Entrepreneurs’ passion 4.00 0.48 -.10 .04 -.14 -.02 .22** 0.77
7. Zhong-yong thinking 3.91 0.51 -.07 .09 -.01 -.26** .11 .58** 0.79
8. Organizational Innovation 3.73 0.71 -.06 -.03 -.16* .11 .10 .36** .10 0.88
9. Performance 3.81 0.77 -.08 -.11 -.12 .05 -.01 .43** .16* .63** 0.92
The diagonal elements are the square roots of AVEs. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01
Table 4 Results of hierarchical regression analyses for mediation
Variables Organizational Innovation New Venture Performance
Model1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model5
Firm control variables

Firm age -0.04 -0.03 -0.07 -0.05 -0.03
Firm asset -0.01 -0.01 -0.08 -0.09 -0.08
Individual control variables
Age -0.13 -0.09 -0.10 -0.05 0.01
Gender 0.09 0.10 0.03 0.04 -0.01
Education 0.07 0.01 -0.02 -0.11 -0.11
Main effects
Entrepreneurial passion 0.34*** 0.45*** 0.27***
Organizational Innovation 0.54***
R2 0.04 0.15 0.03 0.22 0.47
Adjust R2 0.01 0.11 0.01 0.19 0.44
Change in R2 0.11 0.19 0.25
F 1.17 4.27*** 0.82 6.80*** 18.31***
N = 154. *** P < 0.001
variance (F = 1.17, n.s.). In Model 2, entrepreneurs’ passion was added to the

regression equation. The result shows that entrepreneurs’ passion is significantly related
to organizational innovation (β = 0.34, p < .001). In addition, 15% of the variance is
explained (F = 4.27, p < .001). Therefore, hypothesis 2 is supported. In Model 4,
control variables and entrepreneurs’ passion were regressed to new venture perfor-
mance. The result indicates that the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and
new venture performance is significant (β = 0.45, p < .001). Therefore, hypothesis 1 is
supported.
In Model 5, entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational innovation were entered
in the regression equation simultaneously. The result confirms that organizational
innovation is significantly related to new venture performance (β = 0.54,
p < 0.001), and, thus, hypothesis 3 is supported. In Model 5, entrepreneurs’
passion remains significantly related to new venture performance (β = .27,
p < 0.001), indicating that organizational innovation partly mediates the relation-
ship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance. Therefore,
hypothesis 4 is supported.
In addition, following the work of Preacher and Hayes (2008), we adopted the bias-
corrected bootstrapping procedure to further test hypothesis 4 (Preacher and Hayes
2008). As shown in Table 5, the indirect effect of entrepreneurs’ passion on new
venture performance through organizational innovation is positive and significant
Table 5 Results of bootstrapping test
Bootstrap indirect effect SE Lower limit 95% CI Upper limit 95% CI
Entrepreneurs’ passion 0.30 0.07 0.18 0.43

>Innovation >Performance
(indirect effect = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.18 to 0.43), which excluded zero. Therefore,
hypothesis 4 is supported.
Table 6 presents the results of the moderated regression analysis that examined the
moderating influence of entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking on the relationships
between entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational innovation. First, we entered the
control variables. Second, we entered entrepreneurs’ passion. Third, we entered entre-
preneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking. Finally, we entered the two-way interactions. As
shown in Table 6, entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking positively moderates the rela-
tionship between entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational innovation (β = 0.30,
p < 0.001), which is consistent with hypothesis 5.
To further facilitate the interpretation of the moderating mechanism, we plotted the
interaction effects in Fig. 2. As shown in the figure, entrepreneurs’ passion has a
significantly positive relationship with organizational innovation when entrepreneurs’
Zhong-yong thinking is high. However, when entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking is
low, the positive relationship becomes less significant. Therefore, hypothesis 5 is
further supported.
Hypothesis 6 states that entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking moderates the indirect
relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance through
organizational innovation, such that the relationship becomes stronger as entrepreneurs’
Zhong-yong thinking increases. Following the procedure developed by Edwards and
Lambert (2007), we examined the moderated mediation effects of entrepreneurs’
Zhong-yong thinking. As shown in Table 7, entrepreneurs’ passion is positively related
to organizational innovation (β = 0.33, p < 0.05) for low Zhong-yong thinking, and the
relationship is also positively significant (β = 0.55, p < 0.05) when Zhong-yong
thinking is high. The difference between the two abovementioned coefficients is
significant (△β = 0.22, p < 0.05). Therefore, the positive relationship between
Table 6 Results of hierarchical regression analyses for moderation
Variables Organizational Innovation
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4
Firm control variables

Firm age -0.04 -0.03 -0.03 0.01
Firm asset -0.01 -0.01 -0.01 0.08
Individual control variables
Entrepreneur age -0.13 -0.09 -0.09 -0.06
Entrepreneur gender 0.09 0.10 0.06 0.11
Entrepreneur education 0.07 0.01 -0.01 -0.01
Main effects
Entrepreneurs’ passion (EP) 0.34*** 0.42*** 0.39***
Entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking (ZY) -0.13 -0.14
Interactions
EP × ZY 0.30***
R2 0.04 0.15 0.16 0.24
Adjust R2 0.01 0.11 0.12 0.19
Change in R2 0.11 0.01 0.08
F 1.17 4.27*** 3.94*** 5.60***
N = 154. *** P < 0.001

Fig. 2 The moderating role of entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong Zhong-yong thinking
entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational innovation is strengthened when Zhong-yong

thinking is high, and this finding provides additional evidence for Hypothesis 5. In
addition, the indirect effect of entrepreneurs’ passion on new venture performance
through organizational innovation is significant (β = 0.19, p < 0.05) when Zhong-yong
thinking is low. The relationship is also significant (β = 0.27, p < 0.05) when Zhong-
yong thinking is high. Moreover, the difference between the two abovementioned
coefficients is significant (△β = 0.08, p < 0.05). Hence, hypothesis 6 is supported.
Discussion
This study developed a conceptual model examining the manner in which entrepre-
neurs’ passion drives new venture performance in China. We found that entrepreneurs’
passion is positively related to new venture performance. This finding is consistent with
Table 7 Results of the moderated path analysis
Moderator variable Entrepreneurs’ passion (X) → Organizational Innovation

(M) → New Venture Performance(Y)
Stage Effect
First Second Direct Indirect Total effects

effects Effects
PMX PYM PYX (PYM PMX) (PYX+
PYMPM1X)
Simple paths for low Zhong-yong thinking 0.33* 0.57* 0.24* 0.19* 0.43*
Simple paths for high Zhong-yong 0.55* 0.50* 0.31* 0.27* 0.58*
thinking
Differences 0.22* -0.07 0.06 0.08* 0.15*
N = 154. PMX = path from entrepreneurs’ passion to organizational innovation; PYM = path from organizational
innovation to new venture performance; PYX = path from entrepreneurs’ passion to new venture performance.
Low Zhong-yong thinking refers to the mean of Zhong-yong thinking minus one standard deviation; high
Zhong-yong thinking refers to the mean of Zhong-yong thinking plus one standard deviation. *p < 0.05
the existing argument about the positive relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion
and organizational outcome (Baum and Locke 2004; Patel et al. 2015; Biraglia and
Kadile 2016). We also found that organizational innovation mediates the relationship
between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance. Finally, we investigated
the role of entrepreneurs’ cognition, especially Chinese entrepreneurs’ cognition of
Zhong-yong thinking, in the effect of entrepreneurs’ passion. The results indicate that
entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking can amplify the effects of entrepreneurs’ passion
on organizational innovation and new venture performance. This study bears both
theoretical and practical implications for the fields of passion and entrepreneurship.
Theoretical implications
This study possesses several theoretical implications. First, it enriches the research on
passion in the entrepreneurship context. Although entrepreneurs’ passion is an impor-
tant component in entrepreneurship (Cardon et al. 2013), understanding of the role of
entrepreneurs’ passion in new venture is limited, especially in affecting new venture
performance. Therefore, scholars call for further empirical studies exploring the manner
in which entrepreneurs’ passion translates to organizational outcomes (Syed and
Mueller 2015; Biraglia and Kadile 2016). The present study responds to the call by
examining the effects of entrepreneurs’ passion on new venture performance. Our
findings provide an important confirmation that entrepreneurs’ passion is significantly
and positively related to organizational innovation and new venture performance.
These findings extend the literature on the role of entrepreneurs in new venture
performance, that mainly focuses on entrepreneurs human capital, social capital, and
personalities (Ensley et al. 2006; Li and Zhang 2007; Baron and Tang 2008; Hmieleski
and Baron 2009; Lee and Lee 2015; Xie and Lv 2016) rather than entrepreneurs’
emotion.
Second, this study advances passion research in the entrepreneurship context by
introducing organizational innovation as the mediating link between entrepre-
neurs’ passion and new venture performance. This study responds to suggestions
that the relationship between entrepreneurs’ characteristics (e.g., passion, skills)
and organizational outcomes are complex and that numerous mediating variables
should be involved (Baum and Locke 2004; Breugst et al. 2012; Ho and Pollack
2014). The existing studies mainly investigated the individual mediators, such as
communicated vision, self-efficacy, goal setting, and commitment (Baum and
Locke 2004; Ho and Pollack 2014; Biraglia and Kadile 2016), rather than orga-
nizational mediators. Our findings show that organizational innovation partly
mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture perfor-
mance, thus enriching the existing research on exploring the mediating mechanism
through which entrepreneurs’ passion affects new venture performance.
Third, this study extends the burgeoning work surrounding the interactive effect
of entrepreneurs’ emotion and cognition in the entrepreneurship context. Our
findings show that entrepreneurs’ cognition, such as Zhong-yong thinking, can
significantly amplify the effects of entrepreneurs’ passion on organizational inno-
vation and new venture performance. Some scholars suggested that entrepreneurs’
emotion exerts powerful effects on organizational behaviors and the relationship is
moderated by their cognition (Forgas and George 2001; Barsade and Gibson 2007;
Baron 2008). However, no studies explored the interaction of entrepreneurs’

emotion and cognition in entrepreneurship. Our study provides empirical support
for this research line, and addresses the call for further empirical studies exploring
moderators in the relationship between entrepreneurs’ characteristics and organi-
zational outcomes (Hmieleski and Baron 2009; Ahlin et al. 2014).
Fourth, this study extends the Western-based knowledge about the role of entrepre-
neurs’ passion in new venture to a non-Western context. Existing entrepreneurship
research mainly focused on American and European settings; limited attention is paid
to emerging economies, especially the second largest economy– China (Su et al. 2015).
Recent entrepreneurship studies address the consideration of context in entrepreneur-
ship research (Zahra and Wright 2011; Trettin and Welter 2011). For example, Welter
(2011) noted that cultural context is important for understanding entrepreneurship
because this context provides entrepreneurs with boundaries for their actions. The
present study contributes to the literature by exploring the influencing mechanism of
entrepreneurs’ passion in the Chinese context and considering the moderating role of
Zhong-yong thinking, a cognition rooted in Chinese Confucian culture. In addition, our
findings support that entrepreneurs’ passion is positively related to organizational
outcomes (organizational innovation and performance), and entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong
thinking moderates the relationship.
Practical implications
This study offers several implications for practice. First, given that entrepreneurs’
passion boosts organizational innovation and new venture performance, enhancing
entrepreneurs’ passion is beneficial for the survival and growth of new ventures.
Previous studies offered several methods for improving passion. Developing a sense
of entrepreneurial role identity by being involved in entrepreneurial work can help
entrepreneurs improve passion, because entrepreneurial role identity can evoke entre-
preneurial passion (Cardon et al. 2009a; Cardon et al. 2013). Entrepreneurs can also
make significant entrepreneurial efforts, such as investing additional time in entrepre-
neurial tasks and dedicating great attention to their work, consequently enhancing their
passion for entrepreneurship (Gielnik et al. 2015).
Second, our findings suggest that organizational innovation plays a mediating role in
the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance. With the
key mediating role of innovation in new venture performance, entrepreneurs should
devote considerable time and effort to maximizing innovation. As entrepreneurs’
affective resource, entrepreneurs’ passion is limited, thus, entrepreneurs should focus
their attention and energy on organizational innovation strategy or organizational
innovative behaviors.
Third, our findings indicate that when entrepreneurs have a high level of
Zhong-yong thinking, passion can exert a powerful effect on organizational inno-
vation. In addition to developing passion, entrepreneurs should improve their
Zhong-yong thinking. For example, entrepreneurs can take part in Confucian
training programs, such as courses about the Analects of Confucius and Yin-
Yang. Such programs can help entrepreneurs develop a holistic perspective toward
the entire situation, use all pieces of information, and strive to maintain harmoni-
ous relationship with employees.
Fourth, our findings not only suggest that entrepreneurs should improve their
passion but also provide practical suggestions for other groups, such as entrepreneur-
ship education institutions, angel investors, and venture capitalists (VCs). For example,
entrepreneurs’ passion can be used as an investment criterion when angel investors or
VCs evaluate whether a program or new ventures have funding potential (Cardon et al.
2009b; Mitteness et al. 2012). Entrepreneurship training programs can develop related
theoretical and practical courses, not only to help entrepreneurs understand deeply the
positive role of passion in entrepreneurship, but also to improve their passion.
Finally, although the study is conducted in China, the findings are also beneficial for
other countries. Under the increasingly competitive global environment, firms must
develop unique capabilities through innovation to gain competitive advantages (Cai
et al. 2015). According to our research results, improving entrepreneurs’ passion is an
effective and efficient means to enhance firm innovation. Therefore, other countries can
set or fund training programs to improve entrepreneurs’ passion. In addition, entrepre-
neurs’ passion is a good indicator of new venture performance in China, so VCs and
angel investors from other countries who intend to invest their money in Chinese new
ventures can make funding decisions based on entrepreneurs’ passion.
Limitations and future research
Despite its several theoretical and practical implications, this study has several limitations
that can be addressed in future research. First, this study employs a cross-sectional design
that precludes us from making causal conclusions. One can argue that organizational
innovation may promote entrepreneurs to engage in creative entrepreneurial tasks, which,
in turn, improves entrepreneurs’ passion. Thus, future research should employ longitudinal
designs or experiments to investigate the relationship and establish the direction of causality.
Second, this study focuses on entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized new ventures.
Care should be taken before the results are applied to entrepreneurs in mature and large
organizations. Previous studies showed that entrepreneurs’ characteristics play a more
important role in new ventures than in large and mature organizations (Finkelstein and
Hambrick 1996). Entrepreneurs in new ventures are required to define the goals, visions, and
organizational climate and motivate their employees toward the achievement of organiza-
tional goals (Ensley et al. 2006). By contrast, large and mature organizations have well-
defined goals, work processes, and structures, which make the leader less necessary or
redundant (Ensley et al. 2006). Therefore, entrepreneurs’ passion may exert a more powerful
effect on organizational outcomes in new ventures than in large and mature organizations.
Future research can replicate the present model to large and mature organizations to verify
this inference.
Third, we conducted the survey by collaborating with a government office, which may
involve the concern of convenient sampling, and the methods have been widely applied to
survey top managers because of the difficulty of obtaining data from them (including
entrepreneurs) (e.g. Tornikoski 2009; Belousova and Gailly 2013). On one hand, all
respondents voluntarily participated because we have asked for their agreement before we
sent out the questionnaires. On the other hand, the sample size (N = 154) is slightly small,
although still acceptable for an entrepreneurship study. In existing published papers, some
studies used small sample of fewer than 200. For example, Baron and Tang (2008)
conducted a study to explore the relationship between entrepreneurs’ social skills and new
venture performance, and they used 129 new ventures for data analysis. Nevertheless, a
large sample size can be helpful for testing our hypotheses.
Finally, this study only examines organizational innovation as a mediator and entrepre-
neurs’ Zhong-yong thinking as a moderator. Researchers noted that the relationship between
entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational outcomes is complex and that numerous mediat-
ing and moderating variables should be considered. For example, exploratory learning may
be considered as a mediator between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance
and environment may be consider as a moderator. Specifically, exploratory learning may be
more important in challenging environments (i.e. China) than in more stable developed
economies. Because highly passionate entrepreneurs tend to find new product or service and
search for new market information and technology, which are beneficial for exploratory
learning (Kim and Atuahene-Gima 2010; Li et al. 2013). Moreover, given the high power
distance in China, entrepreneurs can exert greater influence on new ventures, and, thus,
entrepreneurs’ passion can effectively translate to exploratory learning. When the environ-
ment is turbulent, many opportunities and new information exist in the external environ-
ment. Therefore, under turbulent environment, passionate entrepreneurs can obtain substan-
tial new information and technology to facilitate exploratory learning. Future research can
explore the interacting effect of other cognitions, such as regulatory focus, on passion.
Acknowledgements This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(71371177), Project of the Chinese Society of Academic Degree and Graduate Education (2015Y0503),
Revitalization Project of Higher Education in Anhui Province (2015zdjy003), and Natural Science Foundation
of Anhui Province (1708085MG174).
Appendix
Table 8 Measurement items
Items Loading
Zhong-yong thinking
Multi-perspective thinking
1. I am used to think about things in multi-perspectives. 0.706
2. Before making decisions, I give ear to all opinions. 0.738
3. I give a comprehension consideration while making decisions. 0.750
4. I give consideration to opinions which is different from mine during discussing. 0.782
Integration
1. I integrate my opinions into others’. 0.744
2. I seek a compromise between my opinions and others’. 0.758
3. I make adjustment to my previous thought after taking others’ opinions into consideration. 0.750
4. I expect to reach a consensus after discussing. 0.770
5. When consensus cannot be reached, I can find solutions that satisfy all sides. 0.851
Harmony-oriented
1. Usually, I euphemistically express opinions which may cause conflict. 0.827
2. When making decisions, I usually consider the overall atmosphere and try to maintain harmony. 0.840
3. When making decisions, I usually adjust my expression in order to maintain harmony. 0.842
4. When making decisions, I try to let minority accept the majority’s opinions in a harmony way. 0.827
Entrepreneurial passion
Inventing passion
1. It is exciting to figure out new ways to solve unmet market needs that can be commercialized. 0.634
2. Searching for new ideas for products/services to offer is enjoyable to me. 0.770
3. I am motivated to figure out how to make existing products/services better. 0.704
4. Scanning the environment for new opportunities really excites me. 0.811
5. Inventing new solutions to problems is an important part of who I am. 0.741
Table 8 (continued)
Items Loading
Founding passion
1. Owning my own company energizes me. 0.718
2. Nurturing a new business through its emerging success is enjoyable. 0.808
3. Being the founder of a business is an important part of who I am. 0.728
Developing passion
1. I really like finding the right people to market my product/service. 0.844
2. Assembling the right people to work for my business is exciting. 0.819
3. Pushing my employees and myself to make our company better motivates me. 0.849
4. Nurturing and growing companies is an important part of who I am. 0.825
Innovation
1. Our firm has a strong emphasis on R&D, technological leadership, and innovation. 0.841
2. Our firm has marketed many new lines of products/ service in the past five years. 0.931
3. Changes in product/ service lines have usually been quite dramatic. 0.876
New venture performance
I am satisfied with the firm’s performance relative to my firm’s major competitors in terms of
1. sales 0.932
2. net profit 0.933
3. market share 0.931
4. return on equity 0.896
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Int Entrep Manag J (2017) 13:1043–1068

Entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture

Cuiping Ma 1 & Jibao Gu 1 & Hefu Liu 1

Published online: 15 February 2017

Keywords Entrepreneurs’ passion . China . Organizational innovation . New venture

Entrepreneurs’ passion, defined as the positive emotions that entrepreneurs possess

2015). Entrepreneurship is a lengthy and challenging process, which is full of uncer-

Theoretical framework and hypotheses

Entrepreneurs Organizational New Venture

Fig. 1 Research model

development during the three decades of sustained market-oriented economic reform.

Entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance

According to the existing literature on entrepreneurs’ passion, we propose that entrepre-

Entrepreneurial role identities are linked to entrepreneurial actions and outcomes

Hypothesis 1 Entrepreneurs’ passion is positively related to new venture

Mediating role of organizational innovation

that passion encourages entrepreneurs to produce an innovative culture in new ven-

Hypothesis 2 Entrepreneurs’ passion is positively related to organizational

Moderating role of entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking

is a pervasive and important cognitive thinking among Chinese entrepreneurs (Li

Hypothesis 5 The relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational

Cumulatively, the preceding predictions show a first-stage moderation (Edwards and

Hypothesis 6 The indirect relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new

We employed the questionnaire survey method to test the hypotheses. We first

Table 1 Description of the sample

The measures used to test entrepreneurs’ passion, organizational innovation, Zhong-

Entrepreneurs’ passion We measured entrepreneurs’ passion using the scale devel-

Organizational innovation This study defines organizational innovation as Bthe ten-

Zhong-yong thinking In this study, we define Zhong-yong thinking as a multidimen-

Data analysis and results

Validity and reliability

Table 2 Summary statistics of the measurement analysis

Variables Loading Cronbach α Composite Reliability AVE

Entrepreneurs’ passion 0.63–0.85 0.94 0.95 0.60

Finally, we assessed discriminant validity by comparing the relationship between the

Common method bias

We collected data from a single source simultaneously, which raises an issue of

Table 3 Means, SDs and correlations

1. Firm age 5.75 2.08

Table 4 Results of hierarchical regression analyses for mediation

Variables Organizational Innovation New Venture Performance

Model1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model5

Firm control variables

N = 154. *** P < 0.001

variance (F = 1.17, n.s.). In Model 2, entrepreneurs’ passion was added to the

Table 5 Results of bootstrapping test

Bootstrap indirect effect SE Lower limit 95% CI Upper limit 95% CI

Entrepreneurs’ passion 0.30 0.07 0.18 0.43

Table 6 Results of hierarchical regression analyses for moderation

Variables Organizational Innovation

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

Firm control variables

N = 154. *** P < 0.001

Fig. 2 The moderating role of entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong Zhong-yong thinking

entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational innovation is strengthened when Zhong-yong

Table 7 Results of the moderated path analysis

Moderator variable Entrepreneurs’ passion (X) → Organizational Innovation

First Second Direct Indirect Total effects

Baron 2008). However, no studies explored the interaction of entrepreneurs’

Limitations and future research