First principles at work : self determination theory and the mechanism of organismic integration over individual dispositions in entrepreneurship

This is a cross-sectional study of the mechanism of autonomous-controlled motivation and the underlying relationship with entrepreneurial performance. It challenges the assumption that individual disposition variables are ideal predictors of entrepreneurial performance. It was found that the satisfaction of the needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness in the entrepreneurship domain is positively related to autonomous motivation, and that the autonomous-controlled motivation continuum predicts entrepreneurial performance more strongly than individual dispositions in entrepreneurship. The finding that the degree of autonomous and controlled motivation states matter, opens opportunities for research exploration centred on the study of motivation types described by self-determination theory.