Entrepreneurs frequently encounter errors amid the uncertainty and complexity of venture creation. How these errors
shape team learning depends on individuals' cognitive and cultural contexts. This multi-country study investigates
how error occurrence affects knowledge sharing and how rumination, problem-solving pondering, and emotional
detachment mediate this process across cultures.
Using repeated weekly sampling, the study collected 3,019 observations from 634 individuals in 238 entrepreneurial
teams across China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Singapore. Multilevel analyses reveal culture-specific
mechanisms: in India, error-related rumination suppressed knowledge sharing; in Japan, it enhanced sharing
through reflective problem-solving; and in China and Singapore, emotional detachment facilitated positive knowledge
exchange.
These findings provide the first comparative insight into how cultural norms shape the emotional and cognitive
consequences of error in entrepreneurial teams. The results expand error management theory beyond Western
contexts and offer practical implications for designing culturally sensitive entrepreneurship education and team
learning interventions