Entrepreneurial Thinking and Acting | KMU-HSG

Focus

Entrepreneurship is about taking action. It is about entrepreneurs developing ideas, bringing people on board, gathering financial resources, and developing products and services that generate value for customers. However, sophisticated investigations of the day-to-day efforts of entrepreneurs to achieve success have been surprisingly rare.

Additionally, most studies that analyze entrepreneurs' behavior do not provide a causal link between entrepreneurs' actions and success. In sum, it is fair to say that our knowledge on entrepreneurs' actions remains fragmented, is often descriptive, atheoretical, and based on self-reports leading to retrospective biases. The vast body of entrepreneurship research has surprisingly little to offer in terms of evidence-based best-practices.

Because of this, we want to reach two goals: First, we want to learn more about the essence – the what and the how – of actions and behaviors of commercial and social entrepreneurs in a theoretically and methodologically satisfying manner. Second, we want to better understand how entrepreneurial thinking and acting can be learned by students of various levels.

Research questions include:

What do commercial and social entrepreneurs do?
How do they achieve success and generate positive societal impact?
How can we teach entrepreneurial thinking and acting?

Lead and project partners

Lead:

Prof. Dr. Susan Müller

Internal researchers: Dr. Justus von Grone, Alyssa Kirst, Susanne Dünner
External researchers: Prof. Dr. Denis Grégoire, Prof. Dr. Barbara Bird, Prof. Dr. Deniz Ucbasaran, Prof. Dr. Fritz Oser

Key publications

Volery, T., Mueller, S., & von Siemens, B., 2015. Entrepreneur Ambidexterity: A study of Entrepreneurs Behaviours and Competencies in Growth-oriented Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. International Small Business Journal, 33(2), 109-129.

Mueller, S., Volery, T., & von Siemens, B, 2012. What Do Entrepreneurs Actually Do? An Observational Study of Entrepreneurs’ Everyday Behavior in the Start-up and Growth Stages. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 36(5), 995-1017.

Volery, T., Mueller, S., Oser, F., del Rey, N., & Näpflin, C., 2013. The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Human Capital at Upper-Secondary Level. Journal of Small Business Management, 51(3), 429-446.

Volery, T., Mueller, S., & von Siemens, B., 2009. The Entrepreneur’s Job. Bericht Ernst & Young – Agenda Mittelstand. Zürich: Ernst&Young.
(Study as PDF)

Research projects

Implementation of the Longitudinal Study «Entrepreneurs' Actions for Successful New Venture Creation» (04/2018 – 10/2021)
To increase our understanding about the link between entrepreneurs' actions and behavior and venture success, we initiated a longitudinal, empirical study that focuses on actions of entrepreneurs in situ, i.e. during the actual venture creation process. The project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
SNF Project info

Pilot Project «Entrepreneurial Thinking and Acting in Swiss Vocational Schools – Economic, Social and Ethical Dimensions»
The objective is to introduce entrepreneurial thinking and acting in Swiss vocational schools in four different cantons in three different language regions via a teach-the-teacher approach. The project is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

Research Program on Entrepreneurial Self-regulation
Building on Higgins' regulatory focus theory (Higgins 1997, 1998) we aim to better understand how entrepreneurs self-regulate their behavior.

Impact and transfer

Journal publications and presentations at international conferences (e.g. AOM, BCERC)
Outreach activities include the applied project «Entrepreneurial Thinking and Acting in Swiss Vocational Schools – Economic, Social and Ethical Dimensions»
Supervision of bachelor and master theses
Social entrepreneurship lectures at the University of St.Gallen