Proximate versus distal trait activation in organizations and the transition to entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship commonly originates in established organizations, and a given organizational context is likely to affect the likelihood that individuals transition from employee to entrepreneur (Dobrev & Barnett, 2005; Sørensen & Fassiotto, 2011). Extant research has devoted significant attention to contextual drivers of employee entrepreneurship (e.g., Kacperczyk, 2012; Nanda & Sørensen, 2010) but largely fails to account for the fact that personal factors affect people's reactions to contextual factors. This is surprising as organizational psychology scholars have long emphasized that situational influences on individuals' behavior are contingent upon how those situations are perceived (Mischel, 1973; 1977; Tett & Guterman, 2000). Therefore, we advocate a person-situation interactionist model to provide a more comprehensive explanation of entrepreneurship within and around existing work organizations. In trying to unravel the underpinnings of employees' decision to engage in entrepreneurial activities, our aim is to understand whether an organizational context can activate existing dispositions to participate in the founding of a venture. Furthermore, although the literature has alluded to the influence of subunits on employee entrepreneurship (e.g., Bercovitz & Feldman, 2008; Stuart & Ding, 2006), there is a gap in our current knowledge regarding the importance of proximate versus distal organizational context. Therefore, the following research questions are posed: How can organizations activate employees' dispositions to engage in entrepreneurial activities? Is proximate or distal activation most effective?