Measuring Cognitive and Behavioural Habit Systems of Entrepreneurs

14 Pages Posted: 11 Jan 2016

See all articles by Denise Dollimore

Denise Dollimore

University of Hertfordshire - Business School

Nadine Page

Ashridge Business School - Hult International Business School

Date Written: January 11, 2016

Abstract

This paper presents a new 29-item measurement instrument designed to assess the impact of habits and behaviour of business founders on organizational routines. Adopting an evolutionary approach, habits and routines are conceived as social replicators with the former impacting the latter. The instrument design is informed by constructs and themes emergent from a prior longitudinal study that captured entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour. The study aims to foreground flexible thinking and ability to change mind-sets. New scales were deployed alongside existing scales for measuring cognitive flexibility and other attributes. The survey provided a small but meaningful data set able to show the impact of habits and behavioural dispositions on business practices and firm performance. Ridgidity of thought impacted performance while self-awareness and ability to change habits of thought was evident and positively impacted firm success. Accordingly, implications for entrepreneurship education include exploration of the mind-set and development of business leaders towards more flexible thinking and behaviour. We have begun the important process of developing a new scale that focuses on the influence of entrepreneurial preferences on business practices, rather than on entrepreneurial competencies per se. This is a novel and important step in entrepreneurship research.

Keywords: Habits, behaviour, routines, entrepreneurs, rigidity of thought, cognitive flexibility

JEL Classification: A11, A12, B15, B25, B41, B49, L26, M13

Suggested Citation

Dollimore, Denise and Page, Nadine, Measuring Cognitive and Behavioural Habit Systems of Entrepreneurs (January 11, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2713486 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2713486

Denise Dollimore (Contact Author)

University of Hertfordshire - Business School ( email )

College Lane
Hatfield, Hertfordshire Al10 9AB
United Kingdom

Nadine Page

Ashridge Business School - Hult International Business School ( email )

Ashridge
Berkhamsted
Hertfordshire, HP4 1NS
United Kingdom

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