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The paper aims to explore the relationship between the congruence of mental models held by the members of entrepreneurial teams operating in an emerging economy (Poland) and entrepreneurial outcomes (performance and satisfaction).

The data obtained from 18 nascent and 20 established entrepreneurial teams was analysed to answer hypotheses. The research was quantitative and was conducted using an online questionnaire. Data was collected from each of the teams at two stages. Members of entrepreneurial teams were surveyed independently, which allowed measuring the congruence of their mental models pertaining to running a venture.

Findings reveal that team members’ mental model congruence is significantly related to financial performance and members’ satisfaction in the case of established entrepreneurial teams. However, in the case of nascent teams, there is no relationship between analysed variables.

Implications for theory and practice are offered with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship education. The concept of team mental model congruence is proposed to be included in training of nascent entrepreneurial teams, experienced companies and students.

The concept of team mental models investigated by the authors has been underexplored in entrepreneurship research. Results indicate that at least in some entrepreneurial teams, team mental models’ congruence is related to obtained outcomes. The paper proposes that principles of effectuation and causation can serve as the lens through which the mental model pertaining to running a venture can be analysed. It allows expanding studies on the congruence of team mental models in entrepreneurial teams beyond the strategic consensus.

Self-employment is considered one of the responses to precarious employment, particularly among those who lost jobs during an economic crisis. Although starting a new business is widely available, operating new ventures remains challenging. This article aims to explore the premises of self-employment success, namely self-employment intention and proactive coping as crucial predictors of further performance.

The authors recruited participants among initially unemployed individuals who participated in the entrepreneurial program aimed at creating self-employment. Since entrepreneurs are expected to have specific personal characteristics important for performance, the authors assessed proactive coping as the key factor for self-employment intention.

The results depicted proactive coping as crucial in performing own ventures in the long run, which suggests that self-employment intention may change over time.

Proactive coping is particularly appropriate for self-employed at any stage of the entrepreneurial process because it maintains the intention to perform own business. Thus, the findings underline the need for proactive coping training for entrepreneurs, particularly those previously unemployed.

As the self-employment intention may differ in time, the importance of being proactive in operating small businesses increases.

The issue of educational activity of elderly people is very important. It is an area not only closely related to the productivity of the employees in the company and their retention but also to the broadly understood quality of life of the elderly. The purpose of this study was to develop a model of conditions for the willingness to learn in the case of older employees.

The study group consisted of employees aged 50+, the so-called older employees. The selection of the group was intentional. The questionnaires were completed by employees of companies that agreed to participate in the survey.

To identify the direct predictors of the willingness to participate in training, a logistic regression analysis was carried out. The model allows to explain 19.1% of the variance of the dependent variable. Higher age value reduces the chance that a person will want to participate in training, while higher number of employees in the company, the need to learn new things at work, greater emotional demands and a greater sense of effectiveness increase these chances.

Research on training and the willingness to learn is more often carried out among younger employees than the group of employees 50+. Defining what influences the willingness to learn among this group allows to design activities aimed on development and satisfying needs of older employees in this area.

This article aims at contributing to the literature using conjoint experiment methods for political economic problems. The author measures the stated willingness of young adults to start an enterprise in hypothetical realities described by different levels of six institutional factors pertaining to the business environment.

The author conducts the “forced-choice” conjoint experiment on a sample of 200 young Polish students. This analysis allows for the verification of the expectations concerning the differences in the respondents' stated preferences relating to the potential obstacles to their entrepreneurial inclinations. The author estimates the average marginal component effects (AMCEs) and the marginal means (MMs).

Evidence is provided that the institutional factors are not similarly significant to the stated entrepreneurial preferences of Polish young adults. Legal certainty and economic freedom are the attributes of the most notable effect on respondents' feelings about perceived entrepreneurial barriers; however, the results vary across the subgroups.

The study results provide a tentative perspective on the Polish young adults' feelings about institutions as a potential obstacle to their entrepreneurial inclinations. The employment of conjoint methodology lays the groundwork for scholars studying the entrepreneurial environment, legal institutions and current public mood of different social groups.

This study is a unique attempt to answer political economic questions concerning entrepreneurial institutions in Poland through the implementation of a comprehensive market research method. In addition, the author indicates a specific set of six institutional factors as well as define a distinct group of young adults.