Entrepreneurial fear of failure: An international comparison of antecedents and impact on venture creation

ABSTRACT Fear of failure is a key barrier in starting a business throughout the world due to the high risks involved to the founders’ finances, relationships, status, and self-esteem. Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data, it was observed that countries with high fear of failure have low total early-stage entrepreneurial activity for developed countries only, and that the gap between the ratio of men to women entrepreneurs in countries with high fear of failure is narrower. Countries with higher self-perceived capabilities are lower in fear of failure. However, societal norms, education, access to funding, and perceived government policy had little effect. Countries with greater economic development seem lower in fear of failure than those less developed and the higher the rate of necessity-driven entrepreneurship, the less relevant fear of failure becomes in inhibiting entrepreneurship. This article aims to understand which factors can influence fear of failure to allow governments to put in place policies to reduce this as a barrier to start-ups, which ultimately influences the country’s prospects for economic growth. This article can be used to encourage policies that can be tailored to each country’s unique ecosystem based on the underlying reasons for fear of failure in that country.