Impact of positive illusions and experience on decision to invest in own new venture

Objectives. The objective of this study is threefold: 1) to examine the effect positive illusions on risk taking manifested in opportunity evaluation and investment decision; 2) mediating role attitudes relationship between 3) moderating experience decision. Sample setting. Research sample comprised 132 entrepreneurs aged 19 63 (M = 40.6; SD 10.8) owning small, medium, large-sized businesses. Hypotheses. Individuals exhibiting higher (overconfidence, unrealistic optimism, illusion control) would take Risk will mediate Experience moderate Statistical analysis results. Using simple linear regression it was found that only optimism for rare events control predicted None explained evaluation. PROCESS macro mediation domain-specific perception, rather than general tolerance, statistically significant mediator Moderation via showed entrepreneurial moderates decision using own savings. limitations concerning gender domain specificity methods are discussed study.