The Dark Side of Entrepreneurial Passion: Restraining Employee Innovative Behaviour?

Most studies focus on the positive outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviour and emphasise the pivotal role of the passionate entrepreneur in determining firm success. This chapter illustrates why there is reason to be against manifestations of entrepreneurial passion; the findings from an intensive case study on a small owner-manager-led firm illustrate how owner-managers’ entrepreneurial passion for ideas restrains and conditions employee innovative behaviour. More specifically, this chapter illustrates why there is a reason to be against entrepreneurship as a passionate accomplishment. A critical examination of the case shows how the passionate owner-manager performing the role of primary innovation agent casts the employees in more passive roles in terms of developing new ideas and acting innovatively.