Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.
Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 9;17(6):e0269707. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269707. eCollection 2022.
A large literature at the crossroads of biology and cognitive psychology has shown that individuals hold generally positive expectations about future events. Despite this evidence, to date it remains unclear whether optimism has positive or negative implications for entrepreneurial activities. We examine this question in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which provides a unique way to study the role of optimism on the (in)ability of firms to overcome exogenous shocks. Using a large-scale longitudinal survey covering 1,632 UK firms, we find that entrepreneurs who score high on optimism were more likely to innovate and make organizational changes to their firms during the Covid-19 outbreak. Moreover, optimistic entrepreneurs experienced higher revenue growth during the pandemic. Collectively, our study sheds light on one of the psychological factors explaining why some firms can prosper and some others struggle in the wake of an external shock.
大量处于生物学和认知心理学交叉领域的文献表明，个体通常对未来事件持有积极的期望。尽管有这些证据，但迄今为止，乐观情绪是否对创业活动有积极或消极的影响仍不清楚。我们在新冠疫情的背景下研究了这个问题，这为研究乐观情绪在企业（无法）克服外部冲击方面的作用提供了一种独特的方法。利用一项涵盖 1632 家英国企业的大规模纵向调查，我们发现，在新冠疫情爆发期间，乐观程度较高的企业家更有可能进行创新，并对企业进行组织变革。此外，乐观的企业家在疫情期间的收入增长更高。总的来说，我们的研究揭示了一个心理因素，解释了为什么一些企业在外部冲击后能够繁荣，而另一些企业则陷入困境。
