Cognitive reflectiveness, decision-making, and entrepreneurs’ affective well-being
Abstract
Why do some entrepreneurs thrive emotionally, while others struggle? This study seeks to contribute to a better understanding of which cognitive skills and decision-making strategies account for differences in entrepreneurs’ affective well- being. We argue that entrepreneurs’ heightened anxiety and reduced positive affect are fundamentally rooted in the uncertainty inherent in entrepreneurial decision-making. In line with this, we suggest that reflectiveness – the capacity to override erroneous intuitive responses – enhances affective well-being by reducing uncertainty and enabling making sense of entrepreneurial actions. Moreover, because optimization is often unattainable, we propose that strategic satisficing represents a decision-making tendency that supports entrepreneurs’ affective well-being. Our results provide empirical support for these propositions and offer a foundation for future research on how decision-making tendencies can promote well-being in entrepreneurship.
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