Former coworkers’ entrepreneurial performance and employee entrepreneurship: A social learning perspective

Different employee entrepreneurship events in a firm are usually considered mutually independent. In fact, these events are interpersonally dependent in most cases, which leads to an unresolved issue that how employee entrepreneurship spreads through interpersonal influence (interactions between former coworkers and current employees) in organizations. Drawing on social learning theory, this study aims to test and verify how former coworkers’ entrepreneurial performance impacts focal employee entrepreneurship. Survey data were collected at two different time points (with a three-week interval) from 218 full-time employees who work in China. We found that employee entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediated the relationship between former coworkers’ entrepreneurial performance and employee entrepreneurial intention. This mediating effect was strengthened by the similarity of entrepreneurial resources and employee risk propensity. By clarifying the premise, mechanism and conditions of social interaction in regard to employee entrepreneurship, this study advances our understanding of interpersonal influence effects of employee entrepreneurship. Moreover, it employs social learning theory to provide a detailed explanation of the mechanisms underlying these interpersonal influence effects.