Theory-Driven Entrepreneurial Search

Ankur Chavda, Joshua Gans and Scott Stern

No 32318, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: How should theory-based entrepreneurs search for strategies to implement their ideas? The theory-based view of strategy posits that decision-makers hold theories about their environment premised on beliefs that should be actively tested. This causal framework, which underlies the theory-based view, also has implications for entrepreneurial search: the process by which entrepreneurs uncover strategies to implement their ideas. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian model where entrepreneurs update their beliefs as they conduct entrepreneurial search. We find several optimal behaviors for theory-based entrepreneurs such as reverting to a previous strategy after finding a relatively poor strategy and continuing to search after finding a relatively good strategy, which are missing when entrepreneurs lack such a theory-based approach. As these predictions align with examples of successful entrepreneurs, our findings both provide a method to empirically identify skilled entrepreneurs and demonstrate the usefulness of applying the theory-based view to entrepreneurial behavior more generally.

JEL-codes: D81 D83 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-ino and nep-sbm
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Working Paper: Theory-Driven Entrepreneurial Search (2024)
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