Emotions and Opportunities: The Interplay of Opportunity Evaluation, Fear, Joy, and Anger as Antecedent of Entrepreneurial Exploitation

This research examines the interplay of opportunity evaluation and emotions as determinants of entrepreneurial exploitation using affect–as–information theory and the affective processing principle as conceptual bases. Three central assumptions are confirmed across two studies. The first is that the effects of opportunity characteristics on exploitation are mediated by evaluation. The second is that emotions influence exploitation decisions in addition to evaluation. Fear reduces exploitation, whereas joy and anger increase it. The third is that fear, joy, and anger influence evaluation's effect on exploitation with higher levels of fear reducing and higher levels of joy and anger increasing the positive impact of evaluation on exploitation.