Abstract
This research aims to investigate what types of passion of the founder would have a positive or negative impact on potential co-founders’ decision to join the venture team, and how individual differences of co-founders affect such decision-making. Two important limitations exist in the current literature: First, rather than focusing on entrepreneurs’ general passion, we need a better understanding of the specific targets that entrepreneurs are passionate about and how they influence stakeholders’ decision-making (Warnick, Murnieks, McMullen, & Brooks, 2018). Second, it remains unclear what kinds of obsessive passion have a positive or negative impact on the decision-making of important venture stakeholders, especially co-founders who contribute significantly to venture progress (Klotz, Hmieleski, Bradley, & Busenitz, 2014). Accordingly, despite the importance of co-founders, little research investigates their decision-making in the entrepreneurial process (Shepherd, Williams, & Patzelt, 2015). It remains elusive what factors drive or restrict individuals to join venture teams in the first place.