COGNITIVE STYLE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Eugene Sadler-Smith, Plymouth Business School, UK.
Scholars have argued that as a distinctive section of the business
community, entrepreneurs are likely to share some common characteristics (e.g.: Chell,
Haworth and Brearley, 1991). Previous research has included locus of control (e.g.:
Furnham, 1986), risk-taking behaviour (e.g.: Miller and Friesen, 1982) and need for
achievement (e.g.: Hornaday and Bunker, 1970; Smith and Miner, 1984). More recent
research adopting a cognitive perspective suggests that entrepreneurs may process
information differently from managers in larger organizations (e.g.: Busenitz and Barney,
1996). For example, Allinson, Chell and Hayes (2000) proposed that cognitive style
(an individual's preferred way of processing information) might be an alternative way of
differentiating entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs.
The purpose of this research was to build upon previous work by: (i) exploring the role of
cognitive style as a means of conceptualising entrepreneurial traits; (ii) examining the
relationship between cognitive style and a variety of measures of organizational
performance. It was hypothesized that: (i) the cognitive styles of managers in
higher growth companies will be more intuitive and more global than those of managers in
lower growth companies; (ii) the cognitive styles of managers in lower
growth companies will be more rational and more local than those of managers in higher
growth companies. Four cognitive style instruments were used in the research: (i)
the local and global scales from the Mental Self Government (MSG) questionnaire
(Sternberg, 1997); (ii) the rational and intuitive scales from the General Decision Making
Style (GDMS) questionnaire (Scott and Bruce, 1995). Demographic information and
company performance data also were gathered. A questionnaire survey form was mailed
to a sample of owner managers in smaller firms and 141 usable responses were received.
Scale inter-correlations were low suggesting that the four cognitive styles measures used
are independent constructs. In order to test the two research hypotheses the
cognitive style variables and controls (years trading, size and sector) were regressed
separately on the financial and non-financial performance measures. The regression
model for financial performance was statistically significant. The results offered
support for the hypothesis that managers in higher growth companies adopt cognitive style
that are more intuitive and more global than those of their lower growth counterparts.
The results did not support the view that managers in lower growth
companies are more rational and more local in their cognitive styles than are their higher
growth counterparts. The research supported the view that "successful
entrepreneurs adopt an intuitive approach to information processing" (Allinson, Chell
and Hayes, 2000: p.41). The implications of
these results for the theory and practice of cognitive style,entrepreneurship and small
business management, as well as for future
research, are discussed.