Implicit motivations of entrepreneurial philanthropists: a historical organization studies analysis of Andrew Carnegie

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the implicit motivations of entrepreneurial philanthropists during different stages of their lives. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow a Historical Organization Studies approach by performing a psychobiographical analysis using McClelland’s Thematic Apperception Test on the autobiography of Andrew Carnegie across different stages of his life while considering the historical context. Findings The configuration of the implicit motivations of entrepreneurial philanthropists change with achievement motivation decreasing and power motivation increasing over time explaining the shift of focus from self to others. Originality/value While researchers have been theorizing and using interviews to uncover shifts in entrepreneurial motivations, this is the first paper to longitudinally uncover implicit motivations to explain why successful entrepreneurs give back later in life.