Do perceptions of work conditions prompt employees to adopt entrepreneurial behaviors? Does well-being play a role in this relationship? This paper proposes an integrated model of the associations between perceptions of work conditions (job resources and job demands) and the dimensions of entrepreneurial behaviors (innovative behavior, proactive behavior, and risk-taking behavior). Following the job demands-resources model, we also explore whether employees' well-being (work engagement and emotional exhaustion) mediates the association between work conditions and employees' behavior. Survey data of 257 R&D employees from the chemical sector in Spain were analyzed. The research concludes that different work conditions correlate with the dimensions of entrepreneurial behavior of employees (EBE) in different ways. Job demands are associated with innovative work behavior. Feelings of engagement are related to the dimensions of EBE and play a mediating role between job resources and EBE. Moreover, feelings of exhaustion and risk-taking behavior are connected.

Although individual values have been scarcely studied in the entrepreneurship literature, existing research provides evidence that they are relevant for understanding entrepreneurial behavior. Values, however, do not necessarily influence action in a direct way. Instead, they may indirectly predict behavior via more proximal psychological processes. We build upon previous research in entrepreneurship values using Schwartz (1992) individual-values theory and Frese’s (2007) entrepreneurial action theory, and propose a theoretical model in which individual values have an indirect effect on entrepreneurial behavior through a series of four ulterior cognitive processes: Goal setting and intentions, mapping of information about the environment, planning and monitoring of the execution, and feedback processing. In doing so we integrate the theory of individual values with entrepreneurial cognition research. Despite their complementarity, these two theoretical approaches have not been studied together before. In this way, we offer new insights on the way individual values can explain entrepreneurial action. Based on these two lines of research we additionally propose a research agenda.