According to Bandura’s social cognitive theory, emotions constitute important sources of information for people to judge own efficacy to accomplish specific tasks. The present research employed a laboratory task to assess career starters’ anticipatory emotions and associations with chronic self-construal and emotion regulation strategies. The intensity of facial emotional expressions was assessed while participants were responding to scenarios regarding envisaged business start-up activities. Results from Bayesian path analysis found that independent self-construal was associated with lower intensity of facial expressions of fear; interdependence was associated with higher intensity of anger and disgust. Emotion suppression was associated with lower intensity of happiness and higher intensity of anger. Emotion reappraisal fully mediated relationships between independent self-construal and intensity of expressions of fear in women but not in men. Results add to an emerging literature that highlights the significance of emotions and cultural orientation in the entrepreneurial process.