The Right People in the Wrong Places: The Paradox of Entrepreneurial Entry and Successful Opportunity Realization

We advance a model that highlights contingent linkages between overconfidence and narcissism, entrepreneurial entry, and the successful realization of venture opportunities. Overall, our proposals point to a paradox in which entrepreneurs high in overconfidence and narcissism are propelled toward more novel venture contexts—where these qualities are most detrimental to venture success—and are repelled from more familiar venture contexts—where these qualities are least harmful and may even facilitate venture success. To illuminate these patterns of misalignment, we attend to the defining characteristics of alternative venture contexts and the focal constructs of overconfidence and narcissism.