Does Thinking Style Make a Difference in Environmental Perception and Orientation? Evidence from Entrepreneurs in Post-Sanction Iran

Jahanshahi AA, Brem A, Shahabinezhad M (2018)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Journal

Book Volume: 10

Article Number: 1546

DOI: 10.3390/su10051546

Abstract

 Styles of thinking set different paths for an entrepreneur’s perception and strategic action.

In order to understand the environmental consequences of a thinking style, we investigated the

relations between entrepreneurs’ linear and nonlinear styles of thinking with their perception of

environmental uncertainty in their businesses. Furthermore, we tested the effect of the entrepreneurs’

linear and nonlinear style of thinking on their newly established firms’ orientation towards preserving

the surrounding internal and external environment. Entrepreneurs with linear or rational thinking

styles prefer more tangible data, information, facts, and analytical tools, and entrepreneurs with

nonlinear or non-rational thinking styles rely more on internal feelings, impressions, imagination,

creativity, and sensations when making important organizational decisions. By using cross-sectional

survey data from 144 entrepreneurs in post-sanction Iran (2016–2017), we found that entrepreneurs

with a linear style of thinking, in comparison to entrepreneurs with a nonlinear style of thinking,

perceive a higher level of environmental state, effect, and response uncertainty in their business

context. Furthermore, our survey results reveal that newly established firms by entrepreneurs with

nonlinear styles of thinking have a more external environmental orientation, while newly established

firms by entrepreneurs with a linear style of thinking have a more internal environmental orientation.

Recognizing this contingency advances our understanding of how entrepreneurs perceive and enact

their environments.

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How to cite

APA:

Jahanshahi, A.A., Brem, A., & Shahabinezhad, M. (2018). Does Thinking Style Make a Difference in Environmental Perception and Orientation? Evidence from Entrepreneurs in Post-Sanction Iran. Sustainability, 10. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10051546

MLA:

Jahanshahi, Asghar Afshar, Alexander Brem, and Mohammad Shahabinezhad. "Does Thinking Style Make a Difference in Environmental Perception and Orientation? Evidence from Entrepreneurs in Post-Sanction Iran." Sustainability 10 (2018).

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