How entrepreneurs’ workplace interpersonal capitalization motivates career optimism: Implications for their creative behavior and psychological well-being

Although the potential for optimism to enhance entrepreneurs’ creativity and psychological well-being is increasingly recognized, few studies have examined how entrepreneurs can proactively cultivate this psychological resource. This gap constrains our understanding of entrepreneurs’ affect and behaviors and overlooks opportunities for them to improve venture performance. Drawing on the behavioral perspective of the broaden-and-build theory, we propose that entrepreneurs can use workplace interpersonal capitalization, that is, share their positive entrepreneurial experiences with partners, as a self-initiated behavioral tactic to build career optimism in the entrepreneurial context. We argue this form of optimism is positively associated with entrepreneurs’ creative behavior and psychological well-being. Moreover, this positive relation is stronger when the venture fosters a collaborative climate. Results from a time-lagged, multisource field survey of 235 entrepreneurs in 60 new ventures, as well as a scenario-based experiment involving 297 entrepreneurs, both supported our model.