Cognitive Style and Entrepreneurial Drive of New and Mature Business Owner-Managers

By S. Armstrong, A. Hird. 2009

131 citations recorded by the source corpus.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether cognitive style and entrepreneurial drive are important for identifying individuals who have the potential to become successful entrepreneurs, and for discriminating between owner-managers operating in mature and early stages of venture creation and growth.Design/MethodologyData were obtained from entrepreneurs involved in early (n = 81) and mature (n = 50) stages of venture creation and growth. Instruments used in the study include the Cognitive Style Index which measures the analytic-intuitive dimension of cognitive style and the Carland Entrepreneurial Index which measures entrepreneurial drive.FindingsEntrepreneurs tend to be more intuitive and less analytic than non-entrepreneurs. The more intuitive entrepreneurs exhibited higher levels of drive towards entrepreneurial behaviour. Those operating in the early stages of venture creation and growth exhibited higher entrepreneurial drive than those operating in mature stages.ImplicationsCognitive style may be useful for identifying individuals who have the potential to become successful entrepreneurs. The finding that more intuitive entrepreneurs exhibited higher levels of entrepreneurial drive suggests that cognitive style may also be helpful for discriminating between micro-entrepreneurs and macro-entrepreneurs.Originality/ValueThere is a paucity of convincing research on individual differences as a way of distinguishing entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs, even though it is believed to be central to understanding the field. This study is the first of its kind to consider the implications of both entrepreneurial drive and cognitive style for entrepreneurs operating in the mature and start-up stages of venture creation and growth.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Management of Technology and Innovation

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In Developmental and Educational Psychology

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Management of Technology and Innovation

Citations in the corpus

A model of entrepreneurial intention: An application of the psychological and behavioral approaches (2012, background): “associated psychological characteristics with entrepreneurship (Bygrave, 1989; Robinson et al., 1991; Armstrong and Hird, 2009).”
Examining determinants of entrepreneurial intentions in Slovenia: applying the theory of planned behaviour and an innovative cognitive style (2018, methodology): “For instance, Allinson et al. (2000) and Armstrong and Hird (2009) have tried to explore the relationship between an intuitive and analytic cognitive style and entrepreneurial behaviour.”
Advancing the Psychology of Entrepreneurship: A Review of the Psychological Literature and an Introduction (2016, background): “Another trend are studies of individual differences in cognition and abilities such as entrepreneurs’ cognitive style and practical intelligence (Armstrong & Hird, 2009; Baum, Bird, & Singh, 2011).”
The impact of critical thinking disposition on learning using business simulations (2015, methodology): “…some participants ‘switching off’ (Adobor and Daneshfar, 2006; Curry and Moutinho, 1992), team conflict and freeloading of some participants (Adobor and Daneshfar, 2006; Jehn and Mannix ,2001), a lack of flexibility (Morgan 2009), and a lack of effectiveness in general (Anderson and Lawton, 2009).”