Why do some entrepreneurs decide to give up? Exploring the causes through cognitive maps

Why do some entrepreneurs decide to give up? Exploring the causes through cognitive maps

Khelil, N.
Hammer, M.H.M.

Industrial Design Engineering

Product Innovatie Management

2013-11-20

Despite the contributions of previous studies, no satisfying answer has been provided to explain why some entrepreneurs decided to exit from entrepreneurship. This question will remain extremely complex and difficult to answer if researchers continue to study this phenomenon using uni-dimensional and/or binary approach. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding the complexity of entrepreneurial exit by proposing an integrative and typological framework. This study seeks to provide tow main contributions. First, given the little research integrating in the same studies the individual and firm levels of analysis, the current research propose an integrative theoretical framework based on entrepreneur/new venture dialogic and highlighting the multidimensional, the multiform and the paradoxical aspect of entrepreneurial exit. Second, despite the wide use of cognitive approach in entrepreneurship, only a few studies have used cognitive maps as a tool for understanding the “negative entrepreneurial outcomes”, such as the exit decisions of entrepreneurs. The methodological framework is based on cases studies of four entrepreneurs who have made the entrepreneurial exit decision. Based on cognitive mapping approach, the method used is this paper is divided into three stages. The first stage explores the view of the entrepreneur with regard to his/her exit experience and is based on non-directive interview. The second stage applies the cross-impact “cognitive matrix” in an effort to define the relationship among the concepts gathered during the first stage. In the final stage, the cognitive map composed of concepts and links is analysed in order to identify the root causes of entrepreneurial exit. The findings of this qualitative study show that entrepreneurial exit is not the exclusive consequence of the presence of positive or negative exit reasons, but the immediate result of the interaction of six key dimensions that this research aims to explore, describe and classify. The resulting analytical framework can be used as “visual support” by researchers and professional actors to provide an overall view of the entrepreneurial failure phenomenon, to better analyze its causes, and to build strategies for avoiding tragic and traumatic exit experiences.

exit
failure
entrepreneurship
cognitive mapping

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b2b8ab62-21fa-4d0d-9fda-8c7271f67c0d

RENT XXVII, Vilnius, Lithuania, 20-22 November 2013

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2013 The Author(s)