Consideration of resistance to change adds to the complexity of analysing commitment processes but, as we shall see later, also helps to explain their diversity.Without going into detail, and without claiming to cover every possibility, we propose to analyse resistance to change as follows: resistance to change due to habits and inertia in reasoning and behaviour: this is particularly important where individuals have devoted most of their past commitment to a salaried position without ever considering venture creation (cognitive dissonance, family role model) resistance to change due to fear of the unknown: uncertainty may be related to a specific project or a lack of knowledge of what creating and managing a small business actually involves resistance to change due to the perceived irreversibility of the new situation: in some cases, individuals believe (accurately) that if their projects should fail, it would be impossible for them to go back to their previous job or indeed to any other job; failure, even