Entrepreneurs can create a better tomorrow: The relationship between entrepreneurial grit, nonfinancial success, and societal impact

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurial grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, has repeatedly been linked to higher venture performance. In this paper, we theorize that higher levels of grit may also lead to more nonfinancial success and stronger societal impact for entrepreneurs and that anxiety is a negative moderator in these relationships. We test our model among 1,398 German entrepreneurs in a broad range of industries and find support for our hypotheses. We contribute by uncovering grit as a novel determinant for the nonfinancial success measures of personal fulfillment and workplace relationships, as well as for societal impact, and by shedding light on the role of negative emotions as attenuators in these relationships.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurial grit
• entrepreneurial success
• societal impact
• firm performance
• anxiety

Introduction

People should pursue what they’re passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else. – Elon Musk

The only limit to your impact is your commitment. – Tony Robbins

Grit, defined as the combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals (Duckworth et al., 2007), is an established construct in the psychological literature because its power in predicting performance surpasses that of widely established constructs such as IQ, resilience, the Big Five personality trait conscientiousness (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Duckworth et al., 2011; Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014), cognitive skills, education, and other sociodemographic factors (Danner et al., 2020). The study of grit has high practical relevance because, unlike intelligence (Conley, 1984), grit is learnable (Alan et al., 2019; Aronovitch & Gibaldi, 2023). Alan et al. (2019), for example, showed that grit can be fostered through interventions whose effects can still be measured 2.5 years after the interventions. Recently, entrepreneurship scholars have begun to study grit and have found that grit predicts entrepreneurial entry (Wolfe et al., 2016), venture-level innovativeness (Mooradian et al., 2016), and venture performance (Mooradian et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2017).

This paper addresses three research gaps in the nascent literature on grit. First, while prior work has examined the relationship between grit and the financial performance of entrepreneurs’ ventures (Mooradian et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2017), there has been a dearth of studies exploring the influence of grit on nonfinancial measures of entrepreneurial performance. However, since grit is associated with purposeful striving toward personally fulfilling goals (Duckworth et al., 2007), it appears plausible that grit may also be related to the achievement of entrepreneurs’ nonfinancial goals.

Second, prior work found that grit may result in higher venture performance (Mooradian et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2017) but has not explored whether grit may enable entrepreneurs to achieve a greater societal impact. Societal impact refers to the positive effects that entrepreneurs have beyond the borders of their venture (Wach et al., 2017). However, even though many entrepreneurs strive for strong societal impact (Wach et al., 2017), few are successful since societal impact requires entrepreneurs to overcome numerous and unique challenges over prolonged periods of time (Eiselein & Dentchev, 2021). Because grit is associated with long-term perseverance (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Duckworth et al., 2007), grit may enable entrepreneurs to achieve societal impact.

Third, while previous work analyzed the direct relationships between grit and crucial outcomes for individuals, individual-level contingencies remain underexplored. Prior research has alluded to the possibility that the potency of grit may depend on negative emotions (Alhadabi & Karpinski, 2020; Datu, 2021; Datu & Restubog, 2020), such as anxiety. Anxiety is defined as the tendency to worry about things in general (K. Lee & Ashton, 2018) that can lead individuals to withdraw from situations (K. Lee & Ashton, 2018). Thus, we suspect that anxiety may weaken the positive effects of grit.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how individual differences in entrepreneurial grit relate to nonfinancial success and societal impact and how these relationships depend on entrepreneurs’ level of anxiety. We focus on personal fulfillment and workplace relationships as two key dimensions of nonfinancial success because these dimensions have been described as highly relevant nonfinancial goals by entrepreneurs (Wach et al., 2016). We test our research model using structural equation modeling and key informant data obtained from 1,398 German entrepreneurs across all industries collected between October and December 2021. Our findings indicate that entrepreneurial grit is positively related to the nonfinancial success factors of personal fulfillment and workplace relationships, as well as societal impact. Furthermore, anxiety negatively moderates both relationships.

Our study makes three contributions to the literature on grit. First, we suggest that grit can help entrepreneurs achieve higher personal fulfillment and better workplace relations. Thus, we contribute by indicating that the positive effects of grit extend beyond traditional measures of performance examined in prior work (for a review, see Christopoulou et al., 2018). Second, we suggest that entrepreneurs with higher levels of grit achieve stronger societal impact. This finding indicates that grit has positive effects that reach beyond entrepreneurs’ ventures and also answers research calls for a better understanding of which characteristics among entrepreneurs promote societal impact (Bacq & Eddleston, 2018; Bornmann, 2013; Rawhouser et al., 2019). Third, we suggest that anxiety among entrepreneurs may diminish the positive effects of grit. Our results thus highlight the understudied role of negative emotions as inhibitors of grit.

Our study also has implications for practitioners. Because grit is learnable (e.g., Alan et al., 2019), we encourage entrepreneurs to use interventions to strengthen their grit, and we encourage entrepreneurship educators and mentors to offer such interventions. Since existing interventions for promoting grit are targeted at students (e.g., Dunlosky et al., 2013; Shafiee Rad & Jafarpour, 2023), we emphasize the need to develop and evaluate grit interventions targeting entrepreneurs. Finally, our study suggests that entrepreneurs may use mechanisms that reduce anxiety, such as practicing mindfulness (Tang et al., 2007) or engaging in physical exercise (Craft & Perna, 2004).

Theory

Theoretical background of grit

Grit, defined as the combination of passion and perseverance toward achieving long-term objectives, is an emerging construct of interest in leadership domains, stemming originally from psychology research (Alan et al., 2019; Clark & Malecki, 2019; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Duckworth et al., 2007). The construct has been introduced as a success predictor in the education sector by Duckworth et al. (2007) and is now considered an established success-predicting construct, taking its place next to intelligence in education research (Aronovitch & Gibaldi, 2023; Christopoulou et al., 2018; Clark & Malecki, 2019; Danner et al., 2020; Mueller et al., 2017). Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in the process: Gritty individuals approach achievement as a marathon; their advantage is stamina (Duckworth et al., 2007). Previous research has shown grit to be distinct from other constructs, such as intelligence, conscientiousness, self-control, passion, and self-efficacy (Duckworth et al., 2007; Georgoulas-Sherry & Kelly, 2019; Southwick et al., 2019).

Grit and entrepreneurial outcomes

The influence of grit on outcomes is often explained by self-regulation theory. Classic theories of self-regulation suggest that individual motivation determines general goal direction (Aronovitch & Gibaldi, 2023; A. Bandura, 1989). Self-regulation theory states that we expend effort in control of what we think, say, and do, trying to be the person we want to be, both in particular situations and in the longer term (Carver & Scheier, 2012). Self-regulation theory has been identified as the overarching conceptual framework detailing how grit and its subcomponents, passion and perseverance, aid in motivating coherent and coordinated goal pursuit (Cardon et al., 2009). Hence, self-regulation plays a central role in determining how goals are pursued and, thus, the form and degree to which entrepreneurs exhibit grit (Mueller et al., 2017).

Entrepreneurs face many obstacles and resistance during the entrepreneurial process (S. H. Lee et al., 2023; Lerman et al., 2021; Wach et al., 2021; Wincent & Örtqvist, 2009), for example, time demands, job insecurity, role ambiguity uncertainties, and risks (Dijkhuizen et al., 2016). In this study, we propose that grit has the potential to help entrepreneurs overcome these challenges and direct entrepreneurs toward the achievement of individual long-term goals. In particular, we explore the influence of grit on nonfinancial success and societal impact. In the case of nonfinancial success, we focus on personal fulfillment and workplace relationships, because they are important nonfinancial success criteria, according to descriptions of entrepreneurs (Wach et al., 2016), and likely improve satisfaction with life (Greguras & Diefendorff, 2010; Verbruggen & Sels, 2010). Personal fulfillment is defined as a state in which one has achieved the necessary conditions to feel satisfied with one’s pursuit of life goals (Wach et al., 2017). On the individual level, it includes goals and challenges, personal satisfaction, and creativity and innovation (Wach et al., 2016), work-life balance (Eddleston & Powell, 2012), work flexibility (Vandello et al., 2013), and personal development (St-Jean & Audet, 2012). Prior work has shown that personal fulfillment is achieved when individuals work on meaningful projects (Barrick et al., 2012) and toward self-set goals (Byundyugova & Kornienko, 2015). Further, individuals with high intrinsic motivation appear to have a higher sense of personal fulfillment (Baygi et al., 2017; Oishi & Diener, 2009). Personal fulfillment appears to be a particularly relevant outcome to study among entrepreneurs because it helps overcome challenges and hardships (Baygi et al., 2017), which are considerable in entrepreneurship.

Workplace relations describe successful relationships within and outside firm boundaries, such as positive employee relations, satisfaction, and strong customer relations (Harter et al., 2002; Payne & Joyner, 2006; Wach et al., 2016). Prior work argues that strong workplace relations are associated with beneficial effects. For example, Erickson (2017) highlights that creating strong workplace relationships among employees makes it easier for employers to mobilize employees to achieve better results for their firms. Positive workplace relations also enhance the engagement of employees in an organization (Stallard, 2009) and strengthen confidence, trust, and loyalty among employees (Arimie & Oronsaye, 2020).

Next to personal fulfillment and workplace relationships, we also examine societal impact as an outcome. Societal impact refers to the firm’s long-term positive contribution beyond its direct stakeholders, such as employees or customers (Rawhouser et al., 2019). Entrepreneurs who achieve a strong societal impact make a positive difference in the lives of others (Kelly et al., 2022) and can address current global social challenges (Rawhouser et al., 2019) such as, for example, sustainability and social inequality (Wach et al., 2016, 2017). Bygrave and Minniti (2000) state that every entrepreneur has a social function (Gupta et al., 2020), which cannot easily be separated from nonsocial benefits (Schramm, 2010). Lukeš and Stephan (2012) and Stephan et al. (2015) have argued that creating societal value and helping others can be an entrepreneurial goal as well—for example, alleviating poverty and improving human welfare (Doherty et al., 2014; Huda et al., 2019). Thus, entrepreneurs regularly strive for societal impact as a long-term goal (Bacq & Eddleston, 2018; Wach et al., 2017; Weerawardena & Mort, 2006). While previous studies confirm the existence of societal goals, more research is needed that empirically examines the factors leading to a more positive societal impact of entrepreneurial endeavors (Bacq & Eddleston, 2018).

Most of our proposed main relationships have in common the fact that their achievement depends on actions taken by entrepreneurs. Thus, it appears plausible that factors that reduce entrepreneurial action may inhibit the influence of grit on these outcomes. Anxiety has been shown to inhibit entrepreneurial actions (Lerner et al., 2015). For example, anxiety negatively influences opportunity evaluation and opportunity exploitation among entrepreneurs (Grichnik et al., 2010) and reduces effort (Thompson et al., 2020); it also may be an obstacle to starting a new business (Doern & Goss, 2014; Welpe et al., 2012). Prior work shows that perceptions of obstacles trigger negative emotions (Kollmann et al., 2017). Because entrepreneurs routinely encounter obstacles, it appears likely that entrepreneurs experience substantial anxiety. We thus examine anxiety as a moderator in the relationship between grit and personal fulfillment, workplace relations, and societal impact due to anxiety’s expected negative influence on entrepreneurial actions and the likely high prevalence of anxiety among entrepreneurs. Finally, we focus on anxiety because research has called for more exploration of contingency factors between grit and entrepreneurial outcomes (Arco-Tirado et al., 2019).

Hypotheses

Entrepreneurial grit and nonfinancial success

We propose that entrepreneurial grit promotes personal fulfillment for three reasons. First, gritty entrepreneurs will experience elevated levels of personal fulfillment due to their pursuit of personally meaningful projects. According to self-regulation theory, gritty individuals actively select work projects that are perceived as meaningful and engage them with enduring dedication (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014). This enduring focus on meaningful projects is crucial to achieving fulfillment in entrepreneurship since challenges are commonplace and success requires sustained effort over an extended duration (Carter et al., 1996; Gartner, 1985). Prior work has also shown that pursuing personally meaningful projects can lead to an increased sense of fulfillment (Barrick et al., 2012).

Second, we expect gritty entrepreneurs to focus on personal development, which contributes to personal fulfillment. Prior work posits that the perseverance and passion directed toward goals can extend to personal identity development, with grit serving as the motivational driver behind the pursuit of self-development goals (Vainio & Daukantaitė, 2016; Weisskirch, 2019). In turn, working toward self-development goals results in heightened personal satisfaction (Byundyugova & Kornienko, 2015; Furlotti et al., 2020) and ultimately leads to higher personal fulfillment (Byundyugova & Kornienko, 2015; Furlotti et al., 2020) because individuals learn more about themselves in their pursuit of goals (Fite et al., 2017).

Third, we expect gritty entrepreneurs to experience higher personal fulfillment because such entrepreneurs have higher intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation, joy, and satisfaction stemming from performing a specific activity rather than the pursuit of rewards (Pierro et al., 2006). When individuals engage in tasks that bring them joy and satisfaction, it contributes positively to their overall sense of fulfillment (R. M. Ryan & Deci, 2000) because it aligns with their intrinsic desires and reinforces a deep, enduring source of personal contentment. Since gritty entrepreneurs exhibit strong passion and determination for their goals (Mueller et al., 2017), we expect them to also have higher levels of intrinsic motivation. Thus, we expect that their intrinsic motivation will also lead gritty entrepreneurs to experience higher levels of self-fulfillment. In sum, we expect a positive relationship between grit and personal fulfillment and thus present the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1a:

Entrepreneurial grit is positively related to personal fulfillment.

First, we expect gritty entrepreneurs to promote better workplace relations because they will promote social bonds among employees through the creation of shared goals. Gritty entrepreneurs are likely to provide clear goals for their organizations because grit is associated with dedication toward goals (Duckworth et al., 2007) and because gritty leaders often create a culture that values shared commitment to goals (Duckworth et al., 2011). In turn, working together toward shared goals improves workplace relations because the joint pursuit of shared goals creates strong social bonds (Wolf et al., 2016).

Second, we expect that grit is positively associated with stronger workplace relations because the positive characteristics of gritty entrepreneurs may spill over to employees. Entrepreneurs often serve as role models for their employees (Friedman & Lobel, 2003) and influence employee behavior through their own behaviors (e.g., Liden, 1998). Thus, gritty entrepreneurs’ passion and dedication to their work (Duckworth, 2016) is likely to inspire passion and dedication among employees. Passionate and dedicated employees will support each other because they are more committed to their organizations (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014; Permarupan et al., 2013), which may improve workplace relations. Similarly, gritty leaders also display high levels of resilience (Salisu et al., 2020), which may also lead to higher levels of resilience among employees. This increase in employee resilience will likely promote workplace relations because resilience is associated with increased work happiness (Youssef & Luthans, 2007), a reduction in workplace cynicism (Shoss et al., 2015), and employee satisfaction (Badran & Youssef-Morgan, 2015; Youssef & Luthans, 2007). In sum, our arguments lead us to expect a positive relationship between grit and workplace relationships. Thus, we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 1b:

Entrepreneurial grit is positively related to workplace relations.

Entrepreneurial grit and societal impact

We expect a positive relationship between grit and societal impact for two reasons. First, gritty entrepreneurs are likely to identify groundbreaking solutions necessary for societal advancement. Gritty entrepreneurs often spend large amounts of time obsessed with their ideas (Duckworth, 2016; Park et al., 2020). Research shows that time spent thinking deeply about ideas is associated with the creation of novel ideas (e.g., Adair, 2007). In support of this argument, research has found a relationship between grit and individual-level (Kelly et al., 2022) and firm-level innovativeness (Mooradian et al., 2016). Because societal impact requires novel and unconventional ideas (Eisenhardt et al., 2016), gritty entrepreneurs’ openness to experimenting with novel ideas is pivotal in addressing intricate societal challenges and creating lasting impact.

Second, we expect that gritty entrepreneurs will contribute to societal impact because the passion component of grit also leads entrepreneurs to pursue social goals. Passionate entrepreneurs often care about nonpecuniary aspects of their ventures, such as a venture’s social mission (Cardon et al., 2017; van de Ven et al., 2007). Thus, it is not surprising that higher levels of passion predict social entrepreneurial intentions (Chandra et al., 2021). Because gritty entrepreneurs also focus on social goals and are effective in their pursuit of goals (Duckworth et al., 2007), they are likely to promote societal impact. Thus, we expect a positive relationship between grit and societal impact and hypothesize:

Hypothesis 2:

Entrepreneurial grit is positively related to societal impact.

The moderating effect of individual-level anxiety

Anxiety is associated with hesitation in entrepreneurs (Baron, 2008; Fisher & Newman, 2013; Forgas & George, 2001) and may prevent entrepreneurs from realizing their goals and ambitions (e.g., Hatala, 2005; Henderson & Robertson, 1999). There is reason to believe that the relationships between grit and personal fulfillment, workplace relations, and societal impact may be affected when entrepreneurs have higher levels of anxiety because these three outcomes depend on entrepreneurs taking action toward the realization of their ambitions.

Specifically, in Hypothesis 1a, we have argued that grit is associated with higher personal fulfillment because gritty entrepreneurs pursue more meaningful projects. We expect that gritty entrepreneurs with high levels of anxiety are still likely to pursue meaningful projects but are less likely to make progress in these projects because anxiety inhibits their ability to take action (Baron, 2008; Fisher & Newman, 2013; Forgas & George, 2001). Thus, highly gritty and anxious entrepreneurs may feel stagnant due to the hesitant behavior induced by anxiety, which can compromise the personal fulfillment resulting from their pursuit of meaningful projects (Williamson et al., 2022).

In addition, we have proposed that gritty entrepreneurs experience higher personal fulfillment because they engage in more personal development. Similar to our argument above, we expect that gritty entrepreneurs with high levels of anxiety are less likely to achieve their goals for personal development, because anxiety leads to more avoidance behavior (Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015; Dymond & Roche, 2009; Thompson et al., 2020), effectively reducing entrepreneurs’ capacity to take actions necessary for development (e.g., Albert Bandura, 1991; Dymond & Roche, 2009). Consequently, entrepreneurs with high levels of grit and high levels of anxiety will make less progress in their personal development than entrepreneurs with high levels of grit and low levels of anxiety, ultimately resulting in lower personal fulfillment for the former. Thus we propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3a:

Anxiety negatively moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial grit and personal fulfillment, such that the relationship is weaker for higher levels of anxiety.

We also expect that the relationship between entrepreneurial grit and workplace relations will be weaker when entrepreneurs have higher levels of anxiety. In developing Hypothesis 1b, we argued that gritty entrepreneurs create shared goals in their organizations and that employees bond over the joint pursuit of these goals, ultimately resulting in better workplace relations. However, research suggests that individuals who experience anxiety are more likely to set goals aimed at avoiding negative outcomes and are less likely to set goals aimed at promoting beneficial outcomes (Flanagan et al., 2015). Since groups typically bond over positive emotions rather than negative emotions (Brown & Fredrickson, 2021), it appears likely that avoidance goals will contribute less to employee bonding and, thus, less to better workplace relations. Thus, the positive influence of grit on workplace relations will be weaker when entrepreneurs have higher levels of anxiety.

We further argued that gritty entrepreneurs promote workplace relations because their positive characteristics spill over to employees, who then show increased support for each other. We expect that this link is weaker when gritty entrepreneurs have higher levels of anxiety because employees are less likely to adopt entrepreneurs with anxiety as their role models. Research shows that individuals adopt role models who reflect their own highest hopes for achievements and behaviors (Markus & Nurius, 1986). Because anxiety is generally perceived as undesirable (e.g., Robbins et al., 1991), we expect employees to be less likely to adopt entrepreneurs with high levels of anxiety as role models. It thus follows that the positive characteristics of gritty entrepreneurs are less likely to spill over to employees when entrepreneurs have higher levels of anxiety, weakening the link between grit and better workplace relations. Thus, we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 3b:

Anxiety negatively moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial grit and workplace relations, such that the relationship is weaker for higher levels of anxiety.

Finally, we expect that the relationship between grit and societal impact will be weaker when entrepreneurs are more anxious. In developing Hypothesis 1c, we argued that grit leads entrepreneurs to generate more novel ideas and that the implementation of such ideas may drive societal impact. Prior work has shown that higher levels of anxiety are associated with avoidance rather than approach behavior in the face of challenges (Feltz, 1982; Trew & Alden, 2012, 2015). Thus, gritty entrepreneurs with high levels of anxiety will have a lower tendency to engage deeply with novel ideas over prolonged periods of time for societal challenges. Indeed, prior work finds that negative emotions are related to less creativity (e.g., Baron, 2008) and fewer perceptions of stimuli for new ideas (e.g., Isen, 2000; Schiffman, 2005). Because of their avoidance behavior, gritty entrepreneurs with higher levels of anxiety are less likely to generate and implement novel ideas, reducing their influence on their firms’ innovativeness and, thus, their ability to create societal impact.

Moreover, we argued that the passion component of grit is related to a focus on social goals, which directs the motivation of gritty entrepreneurs toward achieving higher societal impact. We expect gritty entrepreneurs to make less progress toward those social goals when they have high levels of anxiety because anxiety is associated with reduced effort (Grichnik et al., 2010; Welpe et al., 2012) and a higher likelihood of withdrawal when pursuing goals (Doern & Goss, 2014; Kollmann et al., 2017). Because gritty entrepreneurs with high levels of anxiety will exert less effort and abandon their social goals more easily, such entrepreneurs will achieve less societal impact than gritty entrepreneurs with lower levels of anxiety. Thus, we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 3c:

Anxiety negatively moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial grit and societal impact, such that the relationship is weaker for higher levels of anxiety.

In sum, we theorize that grit is positively related to personal fulfillment, workplace relations, and societal impact. We expect these relationships to be weaker for higher levels of anxiety. Figure 1 summarizes our research model.

Figure 1. Summary of hypotheses.

Methodology

Sample and data collection

We tested our proposed model with empirical data obtained through online surveys with entrepreneurs in Germany. We included firms between 3- and 10-years old because those firms have been strongly shaped by their leaders (e.g., Gielnik et al., 2017; Kruse et al., 2023) and because those firms are mature enough to be able to assess success measures (e.g., Lubatkin et al., 2006). To obtain our data, we used the online database Amadeus, which holds over 200,000 firms in the respective geographical and firm-age categories. We included all industries and selected respondents randomly from the overall population to create a representative sample. We performed an extensive prestudy with experienced scholars and practitioners.

We collected our initial data between October and December 2021, contacting 26,094 entrepreneurs via email. Reminders were sent after 2, 3, and 4 weeks. Our final response rate was 9.96% (2,620/26,094). We dropped all respondents who did not completely fill out all study items (1,214 observations). We also removed respondents with a low standard deviation in their answers (below 0.50; three observations) and those who had an unusually short survey completion time (less than 10 minutes, five observations) (Buchanan & Scofield, 2018). Our final sample included 1,398 respondents. We tested this sample for nonresponse bias (Dooley & Lindner, 2003; Werner et al., 2007). We found a small but significant difference in one of our control variables, individual age, but concluded that the difference was too small to bias our overall sample.

Most of our respondents were cofounders of their ventures (1,161), while others held executive positions in their ventures without being cofounders (231). Following research in entrepreneurship (e.g., Hensellek et al., 2023; Sarabi et al., 2020), we include founders and executives because both shape crucial entrepreneurial outcomes. For reasons of simplicity, we refer to both groups collectively as entrepreneurs. Table 1 shows our detailed sample composition.

Table 1. Sample composition.

Respondent characteristics	Percentage	Firm characteristics	Percentage
Age (in years) Average	46–52	Firm size (employees) 0–5	37
SD	1.48	6–10	22
		11–20	16
Gender		21–50	13
Male	80	>50	12
Female	20	Founding team size Single founder	43
Education Preuniversity degree	18	Founding team	57
University degree	82	Industry Services	33
Position Cofounder	83	Retail Administrative services IT & TelCo	15 14 13
C-Level (“Geschäftsführer”)	17	Others	25
Entrepreneurial experience (years) Less than 10	37
More than 10	63

n = 1,398.

Source. Authors’ calculations.

Variables

Our research uses well-established measures. We translated all items to German using a forward-backward translation with native and bilingual speakers (Brislin, 1970; Degroot et al., 1994) in our prestudy. We used 7-point Likert scales for all constructs (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Table 2 shows all constructs and respective items.

Table 2. Survey items.

Entrepreneurial Grit (Duckworth et al., 2007)
Consistency of Interests
(1) I rarely set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one.
(2) I have rarely been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest.
(3) New ideas and new projects rarely distract me from previous ones.
(4) I do not have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete.
Perseverance of Effort
(5) I finish whatever I begin.
(6) Setbacks don’t discourage me.
(7) I am a hard worker.
(8) I am diligent.
Nonfinancial Success (Wach et al., 2017)
Personal Fulfilment
(1) Personal work flexibility
(2) Own decision-making
(3) Personal development
(4) Work-life balance (for example, free time)
Workplace Relationships
(1) Employee satisfaction
(2) Supportive firm culture
(3) Social responsibility for employees
(4) Strong employee relationships
(5) Employee loyalty
Societal Impact (Wach et al., 2017)
(1) Firm social contribution
(2) Environmentally friendly firm (for example, recycling)
(3) Social recognition (for example, good firm reputation)
(4) Social responsibility in the local region
Anxiety (K. Lee & Ashton, 2018)
(1) I sometimes can’t help worrying about little things.
(2) I worry more than most people do.

We used the short grit scale by Duckworth and Quinn (2009) to measure our independent variable as it has been established as the common scale to measure grit in prior research (e.g., Alhadabi & Karpinski, 2020; Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014). In line with research (e.g., Haynie & Shepherd, 2009), we adapted the scale to the entrepreneurship context by explaining to respondents that they should rate their agreement with the given statements in relation to their entrepreneurial work. The measure had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70.

We measured personal fulfillment, workplace relations, and societal impact using the multidimensional scale developed by Wach et al. (2017). We renamed the scale’s original factor, community impact, societal impact, as this description better fits the application in the entrepreneurial context. The resulting Cronbach’s alphas for the three scales were 0.84, 0.74, and 0.79, respectively.

We operationalized anxiety using the scale by K. Lee and Ashton (2018). The scale is domain general and part of the established Hexaco personality inventory (K. Lee & Ashton, 2004). The scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.80.

Age (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014), gender (Credé et al., 2017; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009), and education (Christopoulou et al., 2018; Dickson et al., 2008; Haase et al., 2012) may influence entrepreneurial grit. Thus, we control for the age, gender, and education of our respondents. Following Mueller et al. (2017), we also control for entrepreneurial experience to rule out the possibility that prior experience may increase grit. Finally, we control for cofounder status to account for differences in entrepreneurial outcomes between managers and cofounders among our respondents.

Data tests

We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in AMOS version 28. Our model shows a good fit to our data (Hu & Bentler, 1999): χ² = 1534.69, p < .001, TLI: 0.89, CFI: 0.94, RMSEA: 0.047. We compared our two-factor model to a model with single-factor grit, which showed slightly worse parameters (χ² = 1591.50, p < .001, CFI: 0.93, RMSEA: 0.048), indicating that our theoretically derived model is adequate for our data.

All our variables exhibited composite reliability above 0.70 (Nunnally, 1978). We calculated the average variance extracted (AVE) and the Fornell-Larcker criterion per scale. All factors showed values above 0.5 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). All variance inflation factors were below 1.16 and thus below the threshold of 3.00 (Hair et al., 2010).

Our study design potentially allows for common method bias, as we collected our measures for the independent and dependent variables using a survey (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Therefore, we employed several procedural remedies such as an extensive prestudy, guarantee of anonymous treatment, and separation of independent and dependent constructs to inhibit inferences regarding our proposed hypotheses. We also performed an ex post analysis for common method variance using a common latent factor (Lindell & Whitney, 2001). Our analysis of the common latent factor revealed no structural differences in path coefficients, as all standardized regression weight deltas between our model with and without a common latent factor were below the threshold of 0.20 (Podsakoff et al., 2003).

Our reliance on entrepreneurs as our main data source may introduce single informant bias (John & Reve, 1982). To mitigate the risk of this bias, we followed a dyadic approach and collected a second set of data for our dependent variables. Specifically, we contacted all ventures again in which the respondent had provided us with the contact information for a second respondent (505 ventures). This procedure resulted in 203 second responses from second respondents (response rate: 40.20%). Of those, we dropped 40 responses due to missing values. Moreover, since 9 months had passed between the answers of the first respondents and the second respondents, we performed an outlier analysis as recommended by Müller and Büttner (1994). We dropped eight outliers (95^th percentile, cf. Glance et al., 2002), resulting in a final sample of 155 responses. All intraclass correlations are adequate, considering the guidelines developed by Cicchetti (1994). Because of the high agreement between first and second respondents for our dependent variables, single informant bias is unlikely to bias our statistical results.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

We provide an overview of our descriptive statistics in Table 3 and present pairwise correlations in Table 4.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics.

Variable	Mean	SD
(1) Personal fulfillment	6.03	0.87
(2) Workplace relations	5.67	0.95
(3) Societal impact	5.04	1.12
(4) Grit	5.22	0.90
(5) Passion attainment	5.72	1.20
(6) Anxiety	3.82	1.83
(7) Entrepreneur self-efficacy	6.45	0.89
(8) Environmental dynamism	3.95	1.40
(9) Firm age (founding year)	2013	3.46
(10) Firm size	5.83	2.61
(11) Industry	6.49	2.92
(12) Covid impact	3.64	1.70
(13) Age	5.04	1.48
(14) Gender	1.84	0.45
(15) Entr. experience	8.58	3.19
(16) Working time	51.08	17.58
(17) Cofounder status	1.17	0.37

n = 1,398.

Source. Authors’ calculations.

Table 4. Pairwise Pearson correlations.

Constructs	(1)	(2)	(3)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)	(11)	(12)	(13)	(14)	(15)	(16)	(17)	(18)	(19)	(20)	(21)	(22)
(1) Personal fulfillment	1.00
(2) Workplace relations	0.55*	1.00
(3) Societal impact	0.34*	0.41*	1.00
(4) Grit	0.19*	0.21*	0.20*	1.00
(5) Passion attainment	0.18*	0.20*	0.18*	0.30*	1.00
(6) Anxiety	−0.11*	−0.10*	−0.09*	−0.03	−0.09*	1.00
(7) Entrepreneur self-efficacy	0.24*	0.20*	0.14*	0.12*	0.19*	−0.17*	1.00
(8) Environmental dynamism	0.02	0.04	0.02	−0.04	−0.02	0.07*	0.00	1.00
(9) Firm age	0.08*	0.10*	−0.05*	−0.02	−0.01	0.04	0.05*	0.02	1.00
(10) Firm size	−0.07*	−0.01	0.13*	0.02	0.00	0.02	−0.08*	0.06*	−0.24*	1.00
(11) Industry	0.07*	0.04	0.07*	0.00	0.01	0.01	−0.04	0.05*	0.06*	−0.02	1.00
(12) Covid impact	0.05	0.06*	0.04	0.00	0.02	−0.03	0.04	−0.01	−0.04	0.04	−0.14*	1.00
(13) Age	0.02	−0.04	0.06*	0.03	0.02	−0.15*	0.03	0.02	−0.26*	−0.07*	0.00	−0.04	1.00
(14) Gender	−0.11*	−0.08*	−0.14*	−0.10*	−0.06*	−0.10*	0.08*	0.06*	−0.01	−0.03	−0.11*	0.00	0.05*	1.00
(15) Entrepreneur experience	−0.03	−0.02	0.09*	0.02	0.05	−0.12*	0.14*	0.06*	−0.39*	0.06*	0.00	0.00	0.50*	0.07*	1.00
(16) Working time	−0.01	−0.02	0.00	0.11*	0.08*	0.05	0.09*	0.10*	0.00	0.14*	−0.03	0.02	−0.05	0.09*	0.03	1.00

Significance level is p < 10% for all correlations marked with an asterisk.

Structural equation model

To calculate our hypothesized relationships, we utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS 28, as SEM allows for the simultaneous analysis of multiple relationships (Ullman & Bentler, 2012). To test our proposed moderation, we included an interaction term with mean-centered variables in our model. Next to the structural relationships, we added our control variables and covariances to all exogenous variables to our initial measurement model of the CFA. Our full model showed good measures of fit, with a CFI of 0.91 and an RMSEA of 0.06. Figure 2 provides an overview of our model.

Figure 2. Results of structural equation model.

Hypothesis 1a states that entrepreneurial grit is positively related to personal fulfillment, and Hypothesis 1b states that grit is positively related to stronger workplace relationships. Based on our analysis, both hypotheses are supported (β = 0.45, p < .01, and β = 0.42, p < .01, respectively). Hypothesis 2 states that entrepreneurial grit is positively related to societal impact. Based on our analysis, Hypothesis 2 is supported (β = 0.56, p < .01). Hypotheses 3a–3c propose that anxiety negatively moderates the relationships between entrepreneurial grit and entrepreneurial success. Based on our analyzes, Hypotheses 3a–3c are supported (β = −0.14, p < .01; β = −0.11, p < .01; β = −0.12, p < .01, respectively). Figure 2 shows all the results for our hypotheses.

Robustness tests

We performed a robustness test utilizing multivariate hierarchical regressions. In these regressions, we included additional control variables to ensure our results are robust to different specifications of control variables. On the individual level, we added entrepreneurial self-efficacy, passion attainment, and worktime as controls. On the firm level, we added controls for firm size, firm age, industry, environmental dynamism, and the impact of COVID-19 on a focal firm’s business. As in our SEM, we find statistically significant and positive relationships between entrepreneurial grit and our three outcome variables, providing evidence for the robustness of our findings (Tables 5, 6 , and 7).

Table 5. Hierarchical regression results (personal fulfilment).

Independent variables	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Individual-level control variables
Age	0.04**	0.03*	0.03*
Gender	−0.24***	−0.22***	−0.22***
Entrepreneurial experience	−0.02**	−0.02**	−0.02**
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy	0.21***	0.20***	0.20***
Passion attainment	0.09***	0.07***	0.07***
Worktime	0.00	−0.00	−0.00
Firm-level control variables
Firm size	−0.01	−0.01	−0.01
Firm age	0.01*	0.01*	0.01*
Industry	0.02***	0.02***	0.02***
Environmental dynamism	0.03*	0.03*	0.03*
Covid impact	0.03**	0.03**	0.03**
Direct effect
Entrepreneurial grit		0.13***	0.22***
Moderating effect
Anxiety			−0.02*
Adjusted R-square	0.12***	0.13***	0.14***

n = 1,398.

Standardized coefficients are shown.

***p < .01; **p < .05; *p < .10.

Source. Authors’ illustration.

Table 6. Hierarchical regression results (workplace relations).

Independent variables	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Individual-level control variables
Age	−0.01	−0.02	−0.02
Gender	−0.17***	−0.14***	−0.14***
Entrepreneurial experience	0.00	0.00	0.00
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy	0.17***	0.16***	0.16***
Passion attainment	0.13***	0.09***	0.09***
Worktime	0.00	−0.00	−0.00
Firm-level control variables
Firm size	0.01	0.01	0.01
Firm age	0.02***	0.03***	0.02***
Industry	0.00	−0.02	−0.00
Environmental dynamism	0.02	0.03	0.03
Covid impact	0.03**	0.03**	0.03**
Direct effect
Entrepreneurial grit		0.17***	0.28***
Moderating effect
Anxiety			−0.03*
Adjusted R-square	0.11***	0.14***	0.14***

n = 1,398.

Standardized coefficients are shown.

***p < .01; **p < .05; *p < .10.

Source. Authors’ illustration.

Table 7. Hierarchical regression results (societal impact).

Independent variables	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Individual-level control variables
Age	0.02	0.02	0.02
Gender	−0.31***	−0.28***	−0.28***
Entrepreneurial experience	0.01	0.01	0.02
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy	0.16***	0.14***	0.14***
Passion attainment	0.12***	0.09***	0.09***
Worktime	−0.00	−0.00*	−0.00*
Firm-level control variables
Firm size	0.05***	0.05***	0.05*
Firm age	0.00	0.00	0.00
Industry	−0.17	−0.18	−0.17
Environmental dynamism	0.04*	0.04*	0.04*
Covid impact	0.02	0.02	0.02
Direct effect
Entrepreneurial grit		0.18***	0.27***
Moderating effect
Anxiety			−0.02
Adjusted R-square	0.12***	0.13***	0.14***

n = 1,398.

Standardized coefficients are shown.

***p < .01; **p < .05; *p < .10.

Source. Authors’ illustration.

We conducted hierarchical regressions to test our moderating effects. We find results that are similar in magnitude and direction to those in our SEM. We plot the observed moderation effects in Figures 3, 4 , and 5, using the values at one standard deviation above and below the mean (J. Cohen et al., 2003).

Figure 3. Moderation chart (H3a).

Figure 4. Moderation chart (H3b).

Figure 5. Moderation chart (H3c).

Our sample includes cofounders and executives who did not cofound the venture they led. Although the inclusion of executives who are not founders is common in entrepreneurship studies (e.g., Hensellek et al., 2023; Sarabi et al., 2020), cofounders are typically involved in the initial stages of venture creation and may have a deeper commitment to the venture, while executives may join later and may not have the same level of attachment. To test whether the inclusion of executives influenced our results, we dropped all nonfounders (n = 231) and repeated our analysis using an SEM. The results regarding our Hypotheses 1a, 1b, and 2 are similar in magnitude, direction, and significance as in our full sample (β = 0.90, p < .01; β = 0.83, p < .01; β = 0.61, p < .01, respectively). We also find a statistically significant moderating effect for anxiety on the relationship between grit and personal fulfillment (β = −.05, p = .08) and on the relationship between grit and societal impact (β = −.06, p = .07). We do not find a statistically significant moderating effect of anxiety on the relationship between grit and workplace relations (β = −.05, p = .19), possibly due to the smaller sample size. These results support Hypotheses 3a and 3c but not hypothesis 3b.

Discussion

Implications for research

In this study, we proposed that entrepreneurial grit may promote higher personal fulfillment, better workplace relations, and stronger societal impact. We further suggested that individual-level anxiety acts as an inhibiting factor, weakening the positive relationships between entrepreneurial grit and these three outcomes. Our empirical analysis provides support for our hypothesized relationships. Our overarching contribution is the insight that entrepreneurial grit predicts entrepreneurial success beyond financial outcomes. Specifically, we offer three contributions to the literature on grit.

First, we find a positive association between entrepreneurial grit and the nonfinancial success factors of personal fulfillment and workplace relationships. Prior work has investigated the relationship between grit and firm performance (Mooradian et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2017) but has neglected other relevant entrepreneurial success outcomes, which is why scholars have called for studies on alternative success measures (Newman et al., 2021). We answer those calls and extend prior work by introducing entrepreneurial grit as an antecedent to dimensions of nonfinancial entrepreneurial success. Interestingly, we can show that grit is associated with better workplace relationships, which stands in contrast to previous research indicating that grit is associated with personality characteristics leading to conflicting workplace relations, such as competitiveness, grandiose narcissism, and perfectionism (Houston et al., 2021). Most likely, grit leads to both competitiveness and better workplace relations due to the underlying achievement motivation leading to more competition, on the one hand, and a shared sense of working toward a joint goal.

Second, we find a positive association between entrepreneurial grit and societal impact. Prior studies have demonstrated that grit may improve venture performance (Mooradian et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2017) and that grit is positively associated with corporate social responsibility (Choi et al., 2020), but no research has explored the possibility that grit might also lead to greater societal impact (Rawhouser et al., 2019). Grit as an entrepreneurial characteristic may be able to aid entrepreneurs in achieving their goal of having a positive impact on society. Further, as grit is learnable, uncovering this new antecedent of societal impact poses a potential lever for training and education to better enable entrepreneurs to tackle the grand challenges of today’s society (Rawhouser et al., 2019). With our research, we are able to answer research calls regarding the emergence of societal impact (Bornmann, 2013; Rawhouser et al., 2019) as well as the relationship between societal impact and entrepreneurial characteristics (Bacq & Eddleston, 2018).

Third, we find a negative moderation effect of individual-level anxiety on the relationships between entrepreneurial grit and nonfinancial success, as well as societal impact. We hence contribute to research by extending research on factors that inhibit the positive influence of grit (Datu & Restubog, 2020; Rego et al., 2021). The current scientific debate mainly focuses on positive emotions such as passion or positive affect (Cardon & Kirk, 2015) but rarely includes negative emotions. It hence remains unclear whether negative emotions such as anxiety hinder the relationship between personality characteristics and success. Therefore, researchers have called for future research to include inhibiting moderators (Datu, 2021; Dugan et al., 2019; Rego et al., 2021). We find that anxiety negatively moderates the relationship between nonfinancial success and societal impact and, hence, that entrepreneurs’ anxiety holds the potential to undermine all three positive relationships of entrepreneurial grit and success outcomes. In doing so, we offer insights toward a more complete picture of enabling and inhibiting boundary conditions of grit in entrepreneurship.

Practical contributions

In this study, we found that grit predicts personal fulfillment, workplace relations, and societal impact. A growing body of research shows that specific interventions can promote grit (e.g., Alan et al., 2019; Dunlosky et al., 2013; Shafiee Rad & Jafarpour, 2023; Tough, 2012). These interventions include many elements that could be deployed at scale by using digital tools. For instance, Alan et al. (2019) describe their intervention as using digital media, such as animated videos, to explain the concept of grit. However, there are also challenges regarding the use of interventions targeted at improving grit for entrepreneurs. A key drawback of existing interventions is that they are designed for high school students rather than for entrepreneurs or for university students aiming to become entrepreneurs. Thus, there is a need to develop and evaluate interventions with content specifically aimed at promoting grit among entrepreneurs. Another challenge is that entrepreneurs already have relatively high levels of grit (Wolfe et al., 2016). Thus, it may be more difficult to strengthen grit among entrepreneurs than among high school students, who likely have lower levels of grit. However, our results indicate that there is sufficient heterogeneity in grit among entrepreneurs to influence crucial outcomes, such as nonfinancial success and societal impact. Thus, we are optimistic that grit can be fostered even among entrepreneurs and call for future research to design and evaluate specific interventions for entrepreneurs.

Since our results indicate that anxiety weakens the influence of grit on fulfillment, workplace relations, and societal impact, we also encourage entrepreneurs to reduce their levels of anxiety. For example, entrepreneurs can practice mindfulness meditation (Hofmann & Gómez, 2017; Hölzel et al., 2013; Tang et al., 2007), engage in physical exercise (Babyak et al., 2000; Craft & Perna, 2004), and build strong social relationships outside of entrepreneurship (S. Cohen & Wills, 1985; House et al., 1988). Further, educators’ support is pivotal in reducing anxiety (Cacciotti & Hayton, 2015; Cacciotti et al., 2016). For example, educators may provide training related to mindfulness (Hülsheger et al., 2013) or emotional intelligence (Ciarrochi et al., 2002) and generally create an environment that fosters autonomy in aspiring entrepreneurs (Richard M. Ryan & Deci, 2000) to reduce anxiety.

Limitations and future research

Our study has multiple limitations that offer opportunities for future research. First, our research design does not preclude the possibility of reverse causality (Hamilton & Nickerson, 2003)—that is, the possibility that higher fulfillment, better workplace relations, and stronger societal impact may lead to higher grit rather than vice versa. However, given that grit has been shown to be relatively stable over time (Duckworth et al., 2007), it is unlikely that grit is affected by these three outcomes. However, longitudinal or experimental research is necessary to establish claims for causality.

Second, our sample included only German entrepreneurs. Expanding our analysis to different geographical regions would allow us to investigate whether our proposed relationships hold for entrepreneurs of different cultural backgrounds.

Third, our sample included cofounders and executives in new ventures. While we conducted a robustness test and found similar results when we limited our sample to entrepreneurs, it is important to acknowledge that our findings may not generalize to entrepreneurs in different settings, such as larger firms. Thus, we highlight the need to study the influence of grit in other settings.

Fourth, our study emphasizes the positive effects of grit, but grit may also have negative effects. For example, a strong focus on grit can lead to rigidity (Faiz et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2019), making it difficult for an entrepreneur to adapt to changing environments (Matthyssens et al., 2005). The determination associated with grit may also lead to excessive workloads for entrepreneurs and to excessive expectations that employees should work on long-term goals with the same passion and perseverance as the entrepreneur (Faiz et al., 2023). More research is needed to better understand the negative effects of grit in entrepreneurship and how such effects can be mitigated.

Conclusion

In this paper, we proposed that grit may help entrepreneurs achieve higher personal fulfillment and better workplace relationships. In doing so, our study extends prior work focused on the relationship between grit and firm performance (Mooradian et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2017) and challenges earlier studies arguing that grit may lead to more conflicts in the workplace (Houston et al., 2021). We also found evidence that grit is associated with societal impact, thus, answering research calls to better understand the origins of societal impact (Bornmann, 2013; Rawhouser et al., 2019). Finally, our results suggest that anxiety may inhibit the positive effects of grit on personal fulfillment, workplace relationships, and societal impact, thus contributing to an integration of research on positive and negative emotions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).