Improvisation and New Venture Performance: Unpacking the Roles of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Learning Orientation

New ventures operating in volatile and unpredictable environments must rely on rapid adaptation and decisive action, making improvisation a critical entrepreneurial capability. This study examines how improvisation enhances new venture performance by uncovering the psychological and learning-based mechanisms through which its effects unfold. Drawing on the Knowledge-Based View (KBV) and Social Learning Theory (SLT), the model proposes that improvisation strengthens entrepreneurial self-efficacy, enabling entrepreneurs to approach uncertainty with greater confidence and adaptive judgment. Using a two-wave survey of 322 startup founders in Turkey and analyses conducted through PROCESS and complementary SEM estimation, the findings show that improvisation significantly boosts both entrepreneurial self-efficacy and new venture performance. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy emerges as a key mediating mechanism, indicating that improvisational experiences help entrepreneurs develop mastery, reinforce capability beliefs, and translate spontaneous action into improved outcomes. The results further suggest that improvisational episodes provide immediate learning cues that enhance situational awareness and decision-making agility, deepening the psychological pathway that links spontaneous behavior to venture performance. Additionally, relative explorative learning significantly moderates the relationship between improvisation and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, demonstrating that entrepreneurs benefit more from improvisation when they actively pursue new knowledge, experiment with unfamiliar approaches, and challenge routine assumptions. This moderating role clarifies when improvisation produces its strongest effects, while the mediating mechanism explains how performance improvements materialize through confidence-building processes. By integrating these mechanisms into a unified explanation, the study advances understanding of the improvisation–performance relationship and highlights the importance of learning-oriented behavior in converting spontaneous action into sustained entrepreneurial advantage. The findings offer theoretical contributions and actionable insights for entrepreneurs seeking to strengthen adaptability, resilience, and competitiveness in fast-changing environments.