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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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://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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