When do Entrepreneurs Benefit from Acting like Scientists? Strategic Choice Commitment, Uncertainty and Performance

Abstract

Based on a field experiment with 261 entrepreneurs, this study abductively investigates how a firm’s degree of business development –the extent to which its strategic choices are crystallized—moderates the impact of a scientific approach to decision-making on performance. Treated firms learn to apply a scientific approach, while control firms receive comparable content without the scientific approach. A scientific approach prompts entrepreneurs at a higher degree of development to fine-tune their already delineated strategies. Instead, it leads entrepreneurs at a lower degree of development to reevaluate core aspects of their strategy. Consequently, treated firms with a high degree of development outperform control firms, while treated firms with a low degree of development experience more uncertainty and less favorable short-term economic outcomes than control firms.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Strategy, Experimentation, Field Experiment, Innovation, Value Creation