Search and execution: examining the entrepreneurial cognitions behind the lean startup model

Xiaoming Yang, Sunny Li Sun and Xiangyang Zhao ()
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Xiaoming Yang: University of Nebraska Omaha
Sunny Li Sun: University of Massachusetts Lowell
Xiangyang Zhao: Beijing Normal University

Small Business Economics, 2019, vol. 52, issue 3, No 7, 667-679

Abstract: Abstract The lean startup model emerging from the Silicon Valley recently has become worldwide practice. In this model, search and execution are the two primary activities conducted by entrepreneurial firms. Search activities focus on learning and discovery, such as exploring new customer and market segments, while execution activities focus on implementing well-defined plans and scaling up. Effectuation and causation are two different cognitive approaches an entrepreneur might use to conduct strategic moves. We argue that entrepreneurial effectuation cognition is associated with more search behaviors and that entrepreneurial causation cognition is associated with more execution behaviors. We test these hypotheses in a survey of 160 firms and find evidence in support of our arguments.

Keywords: Lean startup; Effectuation; Causation; Search; Execution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-017-9978-z

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