I wasn't expecting that: How engaging with digital platforms can turn leisure passion into entrepreneurial aspirations

Online digital platforms are rapidly emerging as new avenues for business activities,opening up a plethora of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs. These platforms offer a range of resources and incentives that empower passionate users to showcase and cultivate their skills within online communities, creating a platform for these users to transform into producers and entrepreneurs in the digital economy. However, existing research on entrepreneurial passion has neglected the role of leisure passion in shaping entrepreneurial aspirations. This study explores this relationship by analyzing the activities of 20,538 users on YTTalk forum, the largest digital community for YouTubers, from September 2011 through March 2020. Leveraging the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software, we propose a novel methodological approach that utilizes language to infer passion. Our findings reveal leisure passion is not directly conducive to entrepreneurship, yet entrepreneurial aspirations materialize when passionate users become cognizant of the positive attention and recognition they receive from other users on the platform, providing them with the impetus to monetize their content and harness the value they generate for others. •Digital platforms can turn leisure passion into entrepreneurial aspirations.•Engaging within platform communities significantly reduces costs, effort, and time for passionate users to become aware of entrepreneurial opportunities.•Endorsement from other community members is essential for this process.