The Origins and Extent of Entrepreneurial Action-Orientedness: An Experimental Study

Mirjam Praag, Randolph Sloof and Ahmad Barirani

No 11771, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We test the hypothesis, based on popular and theoretical perspectives, that entrepreneurs are more action-oriented than other occupational groups. We compare their playing strategies in an optimal stopping game using a randomized online experiment among 100s of entrepreneurs, managers and employees. Our experimental results show that entrepreneurs are indeed more action-oriented than others. We theorize that this is driven by their lower levels of loss aversion and higher levels of curiosity. Our empirical test results show that (i) entrepreneurs score indeed higher, on average, than managers and employees on curiosity and lower on loss aversion; (ii) the di fference in action-orientedness between entrepreneurs and others vanishes when controlling for individual curiosity levels and (iii) an alternative treatment that provides subjects with counterfactual information (about what would have happened in case of stopping) increases their willingness to stop. Under some assumptions, the combination of these results leads to the conclusion that the higher action-orientedness of entrepreneurs can be linked to their greater curiosity, but not to their lower level of loss aversion. Hence, we fi nd support for the intuitive idea that (curiosity driven) action-orientedness enhances the identifi cation and/or exploitation of opportunities.

Keywords: Managers; Employees; Inaction; Curiosity; Loss aversion; Lab-in-the field experiment; Entrepreneurs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D03 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP11771 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: The Origins and Extent of Entrepreneurial Action-Orientedness: An Experimental Study (2017)
Working Paper: The Origins and Extent of Entrepreneurial Action-Orientedness: An Experimental Study (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11771

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP11771

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().