Entrepreneurial cognition and premature scaling of startups: a qualitative analysis of determinants of start-up failures

Purpose This study aims to explore the behavioral patterns of entrepreneurs, their cognitive styles and personality characteristics that can lead to a self-destructive chain of events during the transition from a fledgling business to one capable of long-term, profitable growth. This study adopts the self-regulation attitude theory to uncover the reasons for premature start-up scaling, which will help founders to study on their cognitive biases, emotions and behaviors and make efforts to do what does not come naturally to them. Design/methodology/approach The respondents for this qualitative study were selected from a group of entrepreneurs with extensive experience with technology start-ups that have either failed or succeeded during their development stages. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants, who were selected through snowball sampling, on the theme of understanding “How do premature scaling mistakes happen?”. Thematic analysis was used to unearth common themes. Findings The results of this study identified the following themes, “comparison,” “emotional over-reaction,” “impatience,” “mistaken customer priorities,” “overestimation” and “overconfidence,” which eventually leads to premature scaling. The underlying decision-making heuristics of entrepreneurs can be identified as engulfed in different cognitive biases and emotions resulting in negative behavioral patterns, as in the case of premature scaling. Of the six themes, “comparison,” “mistaken customer priorities,” “overestimation” and “overconfidence relates to cognitive bias” and “emotional over-reaction” and “impatience” relate to emotional factors. Research limitations/implications The study was made possible with the support of the voluntary participants chosen by purposive and snowballing data sampling. The interviewee and interviewer biases could have also crept in as part of this qualitative approach. The study pertains only to start-ups in the information technology sector and further studies need to be done to generalize the results across industries as well. Practical implications This early-stage underestimation of unexpected obstacles in the entrepreneurship journey necessitates a focus on the entrepreneur too, as much as the concept. In these hectic and fast-paced circumstances, aspiring entrepreneurs must be taught how to deal objectively with themselves and others, as well as think strategically. Leaders who scale do so because they take purposeful measures to overcome their weaknesses through self-discipline, soliciting advice from others and using their right to change their attitude and points of view. Originality/value The study frames the new approach into the entrepreneurial literature, linking it to self-regulation attitude theory and adds to the nascent literature on neuroentrepreneurship which discuss entrepreneurial cognition, decision-making, and entrepreneurial behavior. This study attempted to explore the reasons behind the premature scaling of startups on an individual level. This study is pioneering in exploring the cognitive factors underlying an entrepreneur’s decision that results in premature scaling. This study provides insights for academicians, entrepreneurs and policymakers and helps understand the cognitive journey that leads to premature scaling.

Attitude theory and measurement in implementation science: a secondary review of empirical studies and opportunities for advancement

Background Implementation science studies often express interest in “attitudes,” a term borrowed from psychology. In psychology, attitude research has an established methodological and theoretical base, which we briefly summarize here. We then review implementation studies designed to measure attitudes and compare their definitions and methods with those from psychology. Methods A recent review identified 46 studies empirically examining factors associated with implementation. For each of these studies, we evaluated whether authors included attitudes as a construct of interest, and if so, whether and how the construct was defined, measured, and analyzed. Results Most of the articles (29/46 [63%]) mention attitudes as an implementation factor. Six articles include a definition of the construct. Nineteen studies were designed to measure attitudes but lacked clarity in describing how attitudes were measured. Those that explained their measurement approach used methods that differed from one another and from validated methods in social psychology. Few articles described associated analyses or provided results specific to attitudes. Despite the lack of specificity regarding relevant measurement, analysis, and results, the articles often included causal conclusions about the role of attitudes. Conclusions Attitudes may be an important construct to implementation scientists, but studies to date are ambiguous in their definitions of attitudes and inconsistent in the methods used to measure and analyze attitudes. We discuss how implementation studies can apply psychology’s standardized definitions, validated measurement approaches, and causal models that include attitudes. This application of attitude theory and methods could offer implementation research valuable scientific opportunities.

On Specific Class of Cultural Phenomena Orthodox Culturology in the Time of Soviet Marxist Psychologists

The article is devoted to the analysis of the perspective of Orthodox culturology of Soviet period – cultural and historical and active approach of Soviet psychology and culturology, as well as the attitude theory. The author resorts to the works of Soviet psychologists (L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, N.D. Uznadze, S.L. Rubinstein and others), culturologists and philosophers (E.V. Ilyenkov, E.S. Markaryan, M.S. Kagan and others), as well as Russian and American followers of cultural and historical psychology (E.Ya. Rezhabek, A.A. Filatova, M. Cole, J. Bruner and others). Special attention and paid to cognitive psychology and cultural neuroscience inasmuch as they are connected with cultural and historical psychology. The main emphasis is made on how various scientists choose the phenomena that can be defines as properly cultural. On the basis of the analysis of the concepts of Soviet psychologists and their American followers the author draws up the scheme of the cultural and the psychological co-relation that remains eclectic if one ignores the influence of the spiritual world on the cultural and psychological aspects.

Fitting Attitudes and Forgiveness

In philosophical discussions of wrongdoing, it is common to find people saying things such as, “If a person has been wronged, she should resent the wrongdoer.” Writers don’t always say why, but, if one wished to defend the claim, a promising place to turn would be to fitting attitude theories of value: One should feel anger or resentment, because that is the fitting (or accurate) response to wrongdoing. Fitting attitude theory can also help explain why some reasons for forgiving strike us as the wrong kinds of reasons. However, in spite of its attractions, I argue that fitting attitude theory fails to support the claim that those who have been wronged should be angry or resentful rather than forgiving. The argument highlights gaps that must be filled by any theory that attempts to move from judgments of fittingness to full-blown moral judgments.

Potret Sosial Komunitas Anak Punk di Kota Perawang, Provinsi Riau

Latar belakang penelitian ini bermula dari ketertarikan peneliti ketika melihat banyaknya remaja yang bergabung kedalam komunitas Punk. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui latar belakang sosial munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang. Teori yang digunakan dalam menganalisis penelitian ini adalah teori pembentukan kelompok yaitu Domisili Theory, Similar Attitude Theory, Activity Interaction Theory dan Practicality Theory. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan penelitian kualitatif tipe studi kasus. Teknik pemilihan informan adalah pusposive sampling. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara observasi, wawancara dan studi dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa motivasi anak Punk bergabung ke dalam komunitas Punk disebabkan beberapa alasan-alasan seperti kesamaan hobi, ingin mencari kebebasan, teman sepermainan dan ekspresi diri. Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa sejarah munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang dan negara di dunia relatif sama yaitu karena tekanan didalam masyarakat tetapi munculnya komunitas Punk di negara di dunia karena adanya tekanan politik sedangkan munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang karena adanya tekanan sosial. Maka ditemukan latar belakang sosial munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang karena menginginkan kebebasan, ekspresi diri, faktor pertemanan dan kesamaan hobi.

Pengaruh Sikap Nasionalisme Pemuda terhadap Keamanan di Kota Bandung (Studi pada Siswa SMUN 3 dan SMUN 5 Bandung)

Indonesia is an archipelagic country, of course, with the many islands owned by the Indonesian people, Indonesia is rich in natural resources and also rich in ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. Wealth, in turn, has an impact on the emergence of threats in people's lives in the form of conflicts and if this continues, it is one of the signs that Indonesian nationalism, especially in Bandung, is experiencing a threat and of course it will have an impact on security. This study uses an attitude theory approach, nationalism theory and security. This research method is quantitative with a questionnaire measuring instrument that is prepared based on research indicators sourced from research variables. The data analysis used simple linear regression analysis with the result that there was an influence of youth nationalism attitudes towards security with a contribution of 44%. From these results it can be concluded that there is indeed an effect of nationalism on security where the lower the attitude of nationalism, the lower the security in the city of Bandung, and vice versa.

Social Distance between Residents and Tourists Explained by Residents’ Attitudes Concerning Tourism

Drawing on the theory of social distance, this study examined the extent to which residents’ attitudes concerning tourism can predict a sympathetic understanding of tourists. Results from residents within the rapidly emerging inbound tourism market, Japan ( n=1569), were analyzed. EFA was undertaken on both residents’ attitudes and social distance data. CFA was then undertaken to establish a measurement model, followed by SEM to examine model relationships. The SEM revealed that more negative attitudes concerning tourism were found to have the strongest impact on less sympathetic understanding of tourists and vice versa, revealing that residents’ attitudes toward tourists depend in part upon whether attitudes about tourism are positive or negative. This study expands residents’ attitude theory by exploring the outcomes of such attitudes, rather than focusing on antecedents. Practical implications are advanced concerning internal marketing strategies, such as disseminating the positive impacts of tourism development to residents.