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Enhancing individual entrepreneurial orientation measurement using a metacognitive decision making-based framework

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Abstract

Entrepreneurship, and individuals’ predisposition toward entrepreneurial activities in particular, i.e. Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation (IEO), has been gaining increasing relevance in academia and management practice alike. Understanding IEO is a critical element not only for its promotion, but for better and more informed managerial and investor decision making as well. As such, this study proposes a new framework for understanding and measuring IEO based on the integrated use of cognitive mapping and the interactive multiple criteria decision making (TODIM) method. We present the steps for building such a framework, as well as a practical application of these steps. The results are promising: the methodology applied allowed a large number of determinants of IEO and their relationships to be mapped; and, subsequently, ranked and weighted for the creation of an IEO measurement tool. The implications of the resulting framework for theory and practice, its limitations and possibilities for further research are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This study is an outcome of a larger research project on individual entrepreneurial orientation measurement carried out at ISCTE Business School and INDEG-ISCTE, both from the University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal. The authors acknowledge the outstanding collaboration of the panel members: Daniel Yan, Francisco Rebelo, Geni Barbosa, Gonçalo de Paula, Maria Gomes and Pedro Silva.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISCTE Business School, BRU-IUL, University Institute of Lisbon, Avenida das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisbon, Portugal

    Fernando A. F. Ferreira, Marjan S. Jalali & Paulo Bento

  2. Fogelman College of Business and Economics, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152-3120, USA

    Fernando A. F. Ferreira

  3. Department of Economics, Sociology and Management & CETRAD Research Unit, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-8001, Vila Real, Portugal

    Carla S. E. Marques

  4. Department of Business and Economics & NECE Research Unit, University of Beira Interior, Estrada do Sineiro, 6200-209, Covilhã, Portugal

    João J. M. Ferreira

Authors
  1. Fernando A. F. Ferreira
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  2. Marjan S. Jalali
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  3. Paulo Bento
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  4. Carla S. E. Marques
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  5. João J. M. Ferreira
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Correspondence to João J. M. Ferreira.

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Ferreira, F.A.F., Jalali, M.S., Bento, P. et al. Enhancing individual entrepreneurial orientation measurement using a metacognitive decision making-based framework. Int Entrep Manag J 13, 327–346 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-016-0388-5

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