Entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a predictive effect on entrepreneurial performance. The lithium-ion battery industry is the cornerstone of the emergency of the four emerging industries of “new energy”, “new materials”, “new technology” and “high-end manufacturing”. In the past, scholars have not considered the characteristics of entrepreneurs in their research on improving Chinese lithium-ion battery new venture growth. The personal characteristics of entrepreneurs have not received widespread attention from scholars. This article will start with the characteristics of entrepreneurs themselves and explore the path that entrepreneurs’ characteristics affect Chinese lithium battery new venture growth. This article builds a structural equation model to empirically analyze the relationship among variables. The data analysis results show that entrepreneurial self-efficacy significantly promotes the growth of new startups and entrepreneurial resilience plays a mediating role between the two. It cannot be concluded that entrepreneurial passion plays a positive moderation role between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial resilience. Entrepreneurial passion also does not play a positive moderation effect between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and new venture growth. However, entrepreneurial passion plays a positive moderating role in the influence of entrepreneurial resilience on new venture growth. The findings of the study are beneficial for practitioners of Chinese lithium battery enterprises and will allow their strategies to promote sustainable new venture growth.

Ayala, J.-C., & Manzano, G. (2014). The resilience of the entrepreneur. Influence on the success of the business. A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Economic Psychology, 42, 126–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2014.02.004

Ben, G. Y., & Fei, J. Y. (2008). Self-efficacy theory and its application. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.

Cardon, M. S., & Kirk, C. P. (2015). Entrepreneurial Passion as Mediator of the Self–Efficacy to Persistence Relationship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(5), 1027–1050. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12089

Cardon, M. S., Foo, M., Shepherd, D., et al. (2012). Exploring the Heart: Entrepreneurial Emotion is a Hot Topic. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2011.00501.x

Chen, C. C., Greene, P. G., & Crick, A. (1998). Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy distinguish entrepreneurs from managers? Journal of Business Venturing, 13(4), 295-316.

Delmar, F., Davidsson, P., & Gartner, W. B. (2003). Arriving at the high-growth firm. Journal of Business Venturing, 18(2), 189-216.

Drnovšek, M., Wincent, J., & Cardon, M. S. (2010). Entrepreneurial self‐efficacy and business start‐up: developing a multi‐dimensional definition. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 16(4), 329–348. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552551011054516

Fatoki, O. (2018). The Impact of Entrepreneurial Resilience on the Success of Small and Medium Enterprises in South Africa. Sustainability, 10(7), 2527. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072527

Feng, B., & Chen, M. (2020). The Impact of Entrepreneurial Passion on Psychology and Behavior of Entrepreneurs. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01733

Forbes, D. P. (2005). The Effects of Strategic Decision Making on Entrepreneurial Self–Efficacy. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(5), 599–626. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00100.x

Galatzer-Levy, I. R., Brown, A. D., Henn-Haase, C., et al. (2013). Positive and negative emotion prospectively predict trajectories of resilience and distress among high-exposure police officers. Emotion, 13(3), 545–553. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031314

Gu, Q., & Day, C. (2007). Teachers resilience: A necessary condition for effectiveness. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(8), 1302–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.06.006

Gui, S. Y. (2022). Operation status of the national lithium-ion battery industry in 2022. Fine and Professional Chemicals, 31(4), 32.

Guang, D.J., Yong, Z., & Xiao, T.W. (2004). Real option pricing analysis of the value of emerging technology startups. Systems Engineering, (2): 74-81

Hallak, R., Assaker, G., & O’Connor, P. (2012). Are Family and Nonfamily Tourism Businesses Different? An Examination of the Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy–Entrepreneurial Performance Relationship. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 38(3), 388–413. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348012461545

Ingram, C., Morisse, M., & Teigland, R. (2015). ‘A bad apple went away’: exploring resilience among bitcoin entrepreneurs. In: Twenty-Third European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS); Münster, Germany.

Jian, Y. Z. (2006). Research on entrepreneurial efficacy and its impact on entrepreneurial performance. Hangzhou: Zhejiang University.

Lafuente, E., Vaillant, Y., Vendrell‐Herrero, F., et al. (2018). Bouncing Back from Failure: Entrepreneurial Resilience and the Internationalisation of Subsequent Ventures Created by Serial Entrepreneurs. Applied Psychology, 68(4), 658–694. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12175

Lindsley, D. H., Brass, D. J., & Thomas, J. B. (1995). Efficacy-Performance Spirals: A Multilevel Perspective. The Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 645. https://doi.org/10.2307/258790

Liu, Y., Wang, W., Yuan, P., et al. (2021). Curvilinear relationship of entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial self-efficacy: Entrepreneurial passion as a moderator. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 49(5), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.10181

Mao, Y., Xie, M., Li, M., et al. (2022). Promoting academic self-efficacy, positive relationships, and psychological resilience for Chinese university students’ life satisfaction. Educational Psychology, 43(1), 78–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2022.2138830

Martin, D. M., & Schouten, J. W. (2014). Consumption-Driven Market Emergence. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(5), 855–870. https://doi.org/10.1086/673196

Neneh, B. N. (2020). Entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial intention: the role of social support and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Studies in Higher Education, 47(3), 587–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1770716

Newman, A., Obschonka, M., Schwarz, S., et al. (2019). Entrepreneurial self-efficacy: A systematic review of the literature on its theoretical foundations, measurement, antecedents, and outcomes, and an agenda for future research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 110, 403–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.05.012

Pradhan, R. K., Panda, P., & Jena, L. K. (2017). Purpose, passion, and performance at the workplace: Exploring the nature, structure, and relationship. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 20(4), 222–245. https://doi.org/10.1037/mgr0000059

Ranfagni, S., & Runfola, A. (2018). Connecting passion: Distinctive features from emerging entrepreneurial profiles. Journal of Business Research, 92, 403–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.04.018

Reivich, K., Shatté, A. (2002). The resilience factor: 7 essential skills for overcoming life’s inevitable obstacles. Broadway Books.

Rutter, M. (1985). Resilience in the Face of Adversity. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147(6), 598–611. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.147.6.598

Santoso, D. M., & Indudewi, Y. R. (2022). The entrepreneurial resilience study on the young nascent entrepreneurs. Jurnal Manajemen Dan Kewirausahaan, 24(2), 129–137. https://doi.org/10.9744/jmk.24.2.129-137

Sexton, D. L., Smilor, R. W. (1997). Entrepreneurship 2000. Upstart Publishing Company.

Shan, T., & Tian, X. (2022). The effects of social capital on entrepreneurial resilience of SME from China: A moderated mediation model of entrepreneurial passion and Confucian traditional golden-mean thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.961824

Sharma, S., & Rautela, S. (2021). Entrepreneurial resilience and self-efficacy during global crisis: study of small businesses in a developing economy. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 14(6), 1369–1386. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeee-03-2021-0123

Smilor, R. W. (1997). Entrepreneurship: Reflections on a subversive activity. Journal of Business Venturing, 12(5), 341-346.

Timmons, J. A. (1978). Characteristics and Role Demands of Entrepreneurship. American Journal of Small Business, 3(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225877800300102

Trevelyan, R. (2011). Self‐regulation and effort in entrepreneurial tasks. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 17(1), 39–63. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552551111107507

Türk-Kurtça, T., & Kocatürk, M. (2020). The Role of Childhood Traumas, Emotional Self-Efficacy and Internal-External Locus of Control in Predicting Psychological Resilience. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 8(3), 105. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.8n.3p.105

Tao, C., & Yu, S.H. (2012). Manager Relations, Knowledge Absorption, and Innovation Performance of Startups. Nanjing Social Science, (11): 42-47, 52Ullman, J. B., & Bentler, P. M. (2012). Structural Equation Modeling. Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118133880.hop202023

Vizcaíno, F. V., Cardenas, J. J., & Cardenas, M. (2020). A look at the social entrepreneur: the effects of resilience and power distance personality traits on consumers’ perceptions of corporate social sustainability. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 17(1), 83–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-019-00626-0

Warner, L. M., Schüz, B., Aiken, L., et al. (2013). Interactive effects of social support and social conflict on medication adherence in multimorbid older adults. Social Science & Medicine, 87, 23–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.03.012

Wei, Z., Xiao, X. (2007). A Study on the relationship between the incubation environment and growth performance of high-tech enterprises. Science Research, 25 (1), 74-78.

Wood, G. J., & Davidson, M. J. (2011). A review of male and female Australian indigenous entrepreneurs. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 26(4), 311–326. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542411111144319

Wood, R., & Bandura, A. (1989). Social Cognitive Theory of Organizational Management. The Academy of Management Review, 14(3), 361. https://doi.org/10.2307/258173

Yazdanfar, D. (2013). Profitability determinants among micro firms: evidence from Swedish data. International Journal of Managerial Finance, 9(2), 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1108/17439131311307565

Ye, Q., Tu, X.S., & Kai, Z.B. (2012). Research on alleviating the financing difficulties of high-tech startups based on government supported technology guarantees. China Science and Technology Forum, (2): 59-63

Yong, Y.Z., & Jia, L. (2013). Empirical Study on the Relationship between Entrepreneurs' Social Networks and Startup Performance. Science and Technology Management Research, (4): 175-179185

Zhao, H., Seibert, S. E., & Hills, G. E. (2005). The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in the Development of Entrepreneurial Intentions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1265–1272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.6.1265

Zhe, S. (2021). Research on the dynamic capability generation of entrepreneurial teams and its impact on entrepreneurial performance. Changsha: Hunan University.

Zheng, Y., & Liu, S. (2020). Bibliometric analysis for talent identification by the subject–author–citation three-dimensional evaluation model in the discipline of physical education. Library Hi Tech, 40(1), 62–79. https://doi.org/10.1108/lht-12-2019-0248