When the Quest for the Best Pays Off: How Maximising Entrepreneurs Improve Performance by Creating Entrepreneurial and Market Oriented Businesses

Abstract

New research in the behavioural sciences has identified that some individuals consistently strive to make the best choice through extensive information search (maximisers), while others are inclined to select options that are good enough (satisficers). The purpose of this study is to investigate how these decision-making styles impact the entrepreneurial process. It is predicted that maximising entrepreneurs will perform better in their entrepreneurial ventures than satisficing entrepreneurs. In order to achieve improved outcomes, it is expected that maximisers will apply their preference for information search to develop more entrepreneurially oriented and market-oriented businesses. Data gathered from a sample of 172 entrepreneurs in the United States indicate that entrepreneurs who maximise outperformed their satisficing counterparts. This relationship was mediated by both entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation, suggesting that maximising entrepreneurs are more likely than satisficers to adopt innovative and market driven approaches to improve entrepreneurial performance.

When ‘Good Enough’ Is Not Enough: The Role of Maximizing or Satisficing Decision-Making Styles, Innovation Behavior, and Entrepreneurial Alertness in the Pursuit of New Business Opportunities

“…There is some evidence that a maximizing style may be beneficial to the entrepreneurial process. A recent study found that entrepreneurs who maximize their decisions built more entrepreneurial and market-oriented businesses that explore and integrate new external opportunities into their business strategies in a way that meets changing market demands, leading to greater financial success (Soltwisch, 2021). Interestingly, entrepreneurs who maximize their search strategy create policies and procedures that enable strategic flexibility within their businesses.…”

“…As entrepreneurs, those who maximize put forth greater effort to search their environment for new opportunities and threats, using that information to inform their strategy (Soltwisch, 2021). Having an entrepreneurial orientation allows them to gain knowledge in the areas of market information, customer relationships, and human capital in a way that enhances their marketing capabilities and performance (Martin & Javalgi, 2019).…”

“…Successfully acquiring and integrating new information is fundamental to the innovative process (Grant, 1996;Zhou & Li, 2012), and entrepreneurs who deliberately search for new information (via knowledge creation) and successfully integrate that information (via knowledge transfer) into their business strategies show greater innovative performance (Donate & Sánchez de Pablo, 2015). Recent research has investigated the role of maximizing or satisficing decision strategies in entrepreneurial performance, finding that those who maximize their decisions by seeking out more options to find the best outperform those who satisfice their search strategies by settling for good enough options (Soltwisch, 2021).…”

“…The maximizing concept has recently been applied to the study of entrepreneurs, finding that those who maximize their decisions use their preference for information search to build more entrepreneurially oriented businesses. As a result of this increased attention to their external environment, they are able to recognize and integrate new op-portunities into their business strategy in a way that produces greater financial performance (Soltwisch, 2021). Yet, it is unclear how these approaches to information search may influence an individual's propensity to recognize opportunities to innovate and launch new ventures in the first place.…”

Self-Confidence of Venezuelan Migrant Entrepreneurs in Colombia

“…Search for information is related to the trait of self-efficacy, and it refers to a person's judgement of their capabilities to face situations, take advantage of opportunities and make decisions, where the action will be in accordance with the information available and the manner of processing and conveying such information (Bandura 1977). The behavioural sciences literature identifies such individuals as maximisers, and they are people who constantly strive to make the best decision through an extensive search for information (González and Campbell 2018;Soltwisch 2021).…”