How valuable are personal values? : investigating personal values and their effect on entrepreneurial performance

Personal values represent fundamental motivations, expressing what humans consider to be important in their lives. This study explores the relationship between founders' personal values and the performance of new ventures, considering the moderating impact of the new venture's lifecycle. To do so, we use the refined theory of basic individual values proposed by Shalom Schwartz. Using structural equation modelling and data of 250 entrepreneurs, empirical results point to a strong support for the positive effects of individual personal focus values on performance. Furthermore, a robust moderating effect of life cycle stage suggests that entrepreneurs' personal values play a crucial role predominantly in early life cycle phases of the new venture. With these results, we advance current research by providing empirical evidence for person-related deep-level antecedents of performance obtaining data from factual entrepreneurs.