The Hidden Costs of Entrepreneurial Soft Skills: Identity, Behavioural Integrity and Word-Deed Misalignment. Evidence from a ZMET Analysis.

Identity economics theorises that misalignment between values and behaviours generates Identity Costs (IC). While this construct has considerable theoretical appeal, its assessment remains critical. Behavioural Integrity (BI) research offers validated word-deed alignment measures but has analysed alignment exclusively from the observer's perspective, leaving the actor's own experience unexplored. This study aims to reveal the hidden costs of entrepreneurial soft skills and operationalises Identity Cost (IC) through Behavioural Integrity (BI), reorienting BI from observer perception to actor experience. The Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), which leverages the metaphorical nature of cognition to access deeper cognitive patterns, was applied in twelve interview sessions. Data coding, run with Atlas.ti, distinguishes Espoused Prescriptions (ESP) and Enacted Behaviours (ENA). Further interpretations rely on Carl Rogers' framework of intrapersonal congruence, where word-deed alignment is assessed as congruent or incongruent. As a result, two types of entrepreneurial practices emerge: “Congruent” entrepreneurs with aligned patterns and coherence metaphors (“pack”, “little fish”); and “Incongruent” entrepreneurs with misaligned patterns and distance metaphors (“drawer”, “solitary battle”), showing entrepreneurial hidden costs in the use of soft skills. Research limitations: Cross-sectional, single-region design requires longitudinal and cross-industry replication. Managerial implications: Reflexive practices help entrepreneurs surface word-deed incongruence. Behavioural Integrity offers entrepreneurs a path toward sustainable competitive advantage. Originality of the paper: The study offers a multidisciplinary exploration of entrepreneurial soft skills’ hidden costs, through a novel operationalisation of Identity Costs, shifting the measurement perspective of Behavioural Integrity from external observer to the actor's own experience.