Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how women’s career stage and Ubuntu (collectivist) values relate to their cognitive ambidexterity when pursuing entrepreneurial initiatives in multicultural South Africa. In this study individual cognitive ambidexterity was operationalised as using effectual and causal logic. More than three hundred businesswomen from diverse backgrounds were surveyed. The results revealed that career stage, self-efficacy and Ubuntu collectivism are important in women’s ambidexterity. Mature, efficacious women in their late career stage draw on their diverse networks and use effectual affordable loss, flexibility and causation when pursuing entrepreneurial initiatives. In contrast, younger, early-career women are more likely to use pre-commitment to ensure support from stakeholders. Women with Ubuntu values use their relationship skills to draw on resources from their networks and use ambidexterity (effectual and causal logic) in their entrepreneurial endeavours.The findings suggest that entrepreneurial women who develop their cognitive ambidexterity and draw on both effectual and causal approaches when initiating entrepreneurial initiatives are more likely to experience successful outcomes. These mental approaches can be developed by means of awareness, training and mentoring. This study extends the literature on women’s entrepreneurial decision-making in a culturally diverse society, demonstrating the influence of cultural values and career stage on effectual and causal logic.

Highlights

  • Multi-tasking, described as the ability to switch between tasks or to handle multiple tasks simultaneously (Pashler, 2000), is embedded in today’s demanding workplace in pursuit of efficiency, while simultaneously requiring rapid innovation (Appelbaum, Marchionni & Fernandez, 2008)

  • This study examined the cognitive ambidexterity that South African women of diverse cultural backgrounds use in entrepreneurial initiatives, focusing on their career development and cultural values

  • This study extends the literature on women’s entrepreneurial decisionmaking in a culturally diverse society in which some ethnic groups exhibit a form of collectivism as a cultural value (Adams, Van de Vijver, de Bruin & Torres, 2014; Urban, 2006)

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Summary

Introduction

Multi-tasking, described as the ability to switch between tasks or to handle multiple tasks simultaneously (Pashler, 2000), is embedded in today’s demanding workplace in pursuit of efficiency, while simultaneously requiring rapid innovation (Appelbaum, Marchionni & Fernandez, 2008). While psychologists debate the issue (Mäntylä, 2013; Stoet, O’Connor, Conner & Laws, 2013), many women view multi-tasking as part of their feminine workplace identity (Priola, 2004). Multi-tasking is a mental reality for women involved in entrepreneurial activities because these activities require cognitive ambidexterity. This type of ambidexterity entails balancing operational efficiency with innovation in an entrepreneurial project (Turner, Swart & Maylor, 2013; Volery, Mueller & Von Siemens, 2015). How do heterogeneous groups of women use cognitive ambidexterity when pursuing entrepreneurial initiatives (Hughes & Jennings, 2012; Hughes, Jennings, Bursh, Carter & Welter, 2012)?

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