The Entrepreneurial Edge: Evidence of Social Identity and Other-orientation in Communities of Interest

Communities of interest are heralded as hotbeds for entrepreneurship. However, the social identification members of such communities are subject to may be detrimental to their proclivity to pursuing ideas through firm foundation and, thus, their propensity to become entrepreneurs. While other-oriented members tend to be associated with firm foundation, the association is significantly reduced and even negatively associated with firm foundation when the individual strongly identifies with a community of interest with collective values due to a shift in their attention toward community engagement as opposed to firm foundation. This paper draws from field studies, a problem-solving task, and survey data to empirically support our hypotheses. The study highlights the importance of integrating social identification and other-orientation when studying communities of interest in relation to entrepreneurship.