4. Discussion
Our study paves the way for further empirical studies on entrepreneurs’ professional lives following business failure (Ucbasaran et al., 2013) by contributing to existing literature in at least two distinct ways. First, we extend the stream of literature analyzing the differences between those entrepreneurs who start a subsequent venture after the closure of their former business, and those ex-entrepreneurs who do not re-embark on entrepreneurship after their previous entrepreneurial endeavor (see Hessels et al. (2011), Schutjens and Stam (2006), Ucbasaran et al. (2006)). Thus, our analysis confirms locus of causality, controllability, and stability are important aspects of processing and explaining business failure, and to a large extent explain novice, serial, and portfolio entrepreneurs’ subsequent behavior with regard to abandoning EA after business failure, or their focusing on the other businesses they control. The results of this study should encourage a more nuanced appreciation of failure attributions, and especially how business failure might affect entrepreneurs on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels until they arrive at the decision to re-embark on entrepreneurship or not (Mantere et al., 2013; Yamakawa and Cardon, 2015). Analyzing these important outcomes could further enhance our understanding of what drives entrepreneurs to remain entrepreneurial, to pursue an entirely different career path, or to focus on the businesses they currently operate.
