Understanding Entrepreneurial Opportunity Evaluations: An Institutional Logics Approach

Abstract

Calls to understand effects of institutions and institutional logics on entrepreneurial behaviors have become stronger as it is critical in today’s world to understand influences on entrepreneurial activities and self-employment globally. This research explores how institutional logic of family influences entrepreneurial opportunity evaluations when compared to evaluations done under the institutional logic of markets through experiments. We find empirical support for significant effect of institutional logic of family on opportunity evaluations. Furthermore, in contrast from the settings of developed economies, we find that institutional logic of family has a stronger effect on entrepreneurial evaluations in the settings of emerging economies. We also identify and empirically test key decision context factors that moderate the effect of institutional logic on opportunity evaluation. This research contributes to entrepreneurship research by unraveling the processes through which institutional logics impact entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation decisions in emerging markets.