Letter From the Editor

Editor

Looking Before Leaping: The Effect of Owner Decisiveness On Small Business Performance

This study assesses the relationship between an owner's characteristic decisiveness and the performance of his or her business in a sample of small business owners who started new childcare ventures. Decisiveness was found to be positively related to performance. This finding was contrary to expectations of a negative relationship based on prior research related to the effects that the need for cognitive closure have on decision-making processes. One possible explanation for this unexpected r...

The Impact of Occupational Preferences On the Intent to Pursue an Entrepreneurial Career

The purpose of this study is to discover if occupational preferences have any bearing on whether, or not, individuals decide to pursue entrepreneurial careers. Specifically, this paper seeks to determine if cognitive occupational expectancies (concerning perceived intrinsic and extrinsic occupational rewards) significantly influence plans to undertake entrepreneurship as a primary vocation. Past theory has determined relevant entrepreneurial rewards to be the intrinsic reward of independence,...

Using Family Firm Boundary Management Theory to Explain the Impact of Privacy Issues On Family Firm Research

This paper introduces Family Firm Boundary Management Theory to the family firm literature to help researchers better understand why family firms prefer to safeguard information about their businesses and are so private about internal operations. FFBM has four interrelated dimensions, which are ownership, control, permeability, and levels. These dimensions, and other aspects of FFBM, are presented in the paper to help researchers better under stand privacy issues in family firms, and more imp...

Are Entrepreneurs Optimistic, Realistic, Both or Fuzzy? Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Traits and Entrepreneurial Learning

This article presents a novel approach to measure entrepreneurial optimism and realism and their relationship to individual demographics, entrepreneurial characteristics, and learning reflections on new venture formation. Measures of optimism from psychology and a measure of realism developed by the authors were used to determine if entrepreneurs are optimistic and/or realistic, a majority are. Many entrepreneurs were both optimistic and realistic. Interesting tendencies were also identified ...

Assessing Managerial Decisions Using the Dual Systems Theory of Reasoning: Future Challenges for Management Researchers

We focus on likely challenges that will be encountered by field researchers investigating managerial decision-making using theoretical frameworks based on the dual systems of reasoning. This decision-making theoretical framework is currently the subject of theory building research in the management literature (e.g. Dane & Pratt, 2007). Future field studies investigating how dual systems of reasoning affect consequential decisions made by entrepreneurs and managers in actual business setti...

Insights Into Entrepreneurial Behaviour in Indian Firms

Entrepreneurial behaviour to exploit the resources within an organization is a means to maintain competitive advantage and improve financial performance. This papers aims to identify the determinants of such entrepreneurial behaviour that exist in Indian firms. Through the data from a survey based questionnaire, a conceptual model is proposed. Using factor analysis, six factors that determine entrepreneurial orientation are deduced. It is verified that firms with entrepreneurial behaviour hav...

Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Traits, Perceptions and Usage of Information and Communication Technologies

In this research, attempt was made to unveil gender differences in information and communication technology (ICT) usage, perceived system attributes, and entrepreneurial traits among Malaysia entrepreneurs. Results show that male entrepreneurs are more flexible and persevering as compared to female entrepreneurs. Risk-taking propensity is an important technology usage determinant among female entrepreneurs but not among male entrepreneurs. Innovativeness is associated with usage by male and f...

A Hermeneutical Approach to Understanding Entrepreneurial Failure

This paper reports an investigation of entrepreneurial failure using hermeneutic analysis of five entrepreneurship narratives. The data used in this study was collected between 2002 and 2005. The research focuses on entrepreneurial orientation anddefines entrepreneurs as individuals who can "see what is not there." The researchers adopted "a deviation from the entrepreneurs' desired expectations" as their working definition of entrepreneurial failure. The paper progresses throughfour levels o...