Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Finkelstein, Lisa M.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Theory on entrepreneurial action emphasizes the role of cognition in guiding when and how entrepreneurs act. Research in this area has accordingly focused on identifying antecedents of entrepreneurs’ cognitive processes, often emphasizing environmental or economic conditions that broadly influence how entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities. Yet, much less attention has been given to how everyday social interactions spark cognitive processes that influence venture-directed behavior. This dissertation integrates the transactional theory of stress to examine customer mistreatment, defined as low-quality interpersonal treatment from customers, as a social stressor that impacts entrepreneurs’ cognitive appraisals and resulting venture-directed behavior. Here, I argue that mistreatment from customers can elicit appraisals of the event as a challenge or threat, or both, leading to increases or decreases in venture persistence and innovative behavior, respectively. To test this model, I conducted two studies: a vignette-based experiment (N = 464) and an autobiographical recall experiment (N = 346), recruiting entrepreneurs from Prolific. Across the studies, customer mistreatment more strongly elicited threat appraisals (compared to challenge appraisals); however, challenge appraisals generally had stronger effects on venture-directed behavior when they occurred. The findings further indicate that how entrepreneurs appraise mistreatment (specifically, for challenge appraisal) depends in part on the relative power of the customer involved. Mistreatment from lower power customers were more likely to be appraised as a challenge, leading to increased persistence and innovative behavior. Conversely, mistreatment from more powerful customers was less likely to be appraised as challenges, and thus lessened its effects on resulting action. Overall, this research identifies customer mistreatment as an important interpersonal experience within entrepreneurship and demonstrates how and when such encounters impact venture-directed behavior, extending emerging work on the dark side of entrepreneurs’ social relationships.

Extent

206 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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