Experiments On Entrepreneurial Opportunity Evaluation Decisions: An Institutional Logics Approach

Abstract

Calls for scholarship to explore effects of institutional logics on individual behaviors and their micro-processes have gone stronger. It is becoming increasingly crucial to understand how institutional logics influence behaviors and decisions, including business entrepreneurs and their decisions, impacting job creation and startups globally. This research uses an experimental approach to explore how the dominant institutional logics - market logic and family logic - influence entrepreneurial decision-making and actions. Our empirical findings support prior studies and found significant effects of institutional logics on entrepreneurial decisions and actions. In contrast to developed economies, we found that family logic plays a dominant role in influencing entrepreneurial decisions in emerging economies. We also identify various features of the decision context that will make the effect of institutional logic more or less salient. We contribute to the literature of institutional logics and entrepreneurship by exploring micro- processes of institutional logics through socializing and contextualizing entrepreneurial decisions in emerging markets.