Para-social mentoring: The effects of entrepreneurship influencers on entrepreneurs

Research on social media influencers and entrepreneurship tends to adopt an influencer-as-entrepreneur perspective by examining how influencers leverage social media as entrepreneurial opportunities. However, it remains unclear how entrepreneurs in the audience interpret and leverage influencer content in their entrepreneurial endeavors. Using a two-study approach, Study 1 inductively uncovers that entrepreneurs interpret entrepreneurship influencers' content as para-social mentoring—a one-to-many, mostly unreciprocated mentor-protégé relationship in which media users envision themselves as protégés and perceive media figures as providing individualized career-related and psychosocial support despite knowing that the media figures do not know intimate details about themselves or their circumstances. Our model posits that para-social mentoring between entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship influencers relates to critical entrepreneurship-related outcomes. Using data from 613 entrepreneurs, Study 2 deductively finds general support for the model derived from Study 1. Our study highlights how para-social mentoring operates like a double-edged sword that can benefit entrepreneurs while also exposing them to specific hazards not common in traditional mentoring. •We introduce para-social mentoring as a new construct to investigate entrepreneurship influencer-follower dynamics.•We inductively develop a para-social mentoring model linked to entrepreneurial career and psychosocial outcomes.•We empirically test the para-social mentoring model and find support for 9 out of 10 hypotheses, supporting the novel construct of para-social mentoring.•Para-social mentoring operates as a double-edged sword, resulting in beneficial and hazardous outcomes for entrepreneurs.