Does fear of failure affect entrepreneurial growth aspirations? The moderating role of institutional collectivism in emerging and developed countries

Purpose Based on social cognitive theory, this study aims to analyze the impact of fear of failure on entrepreneurs’ growth aspirations, the moderating role of collectivist institutional culture and the differences between emerging and developed countries. Design/methodology/approach Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness databases for 27 developed and 15 emerging countries, and Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness, the authors apply multilevel model with individual-level and country-level variables. Findings The fear of failure has a negative impact on growth aspirations and that impact differs between developed and emerging countries. One of the main conclusions is that collectivist culture mitigates the negative impact of fear of failure on growth aspirations, and that this result is significant only in emerging countries. Originality/value The authors introduce a boundary condition for this study’s predictions, showing that in emerging countries, contrary to developed countries, the moderator effect of cultural context contributes to growth aspirations, despite the entrepreneur’s fear of failure.