Daniel P. Forbes

Measuring the Unmeasurable: Empirical Studies of Nonprofit Organization Effectiveness from 1977 to 1997

The subject of organizational effectiveness in nonprofit organizations, although controversial, remains important to both practitioners and researchers. In spite of this, the empirical research on the subject has never been comprehensively reviewed. This article reviews empirical studies of nonprofit effectiveness from the past 20 years. The review reveals that researchers have conceptualized effectiveness in a variety of ways and that the research objectives pursued in the study of effectiveness have changed over time. The review also shows that much recent research has employed an emergent or social constructionist approach to effectiveness that emphasizes issues of process over measurement.

Entrepreneurial Team Formation: An Exploration of New Member Addition

We explored in this article the process of entrepreneurial team formation. As theory specific to this topic is scant, we drew first on disparate views of team formation and its correlates; we then called upon in–depth interviews to provide deeper, nuanced insights into this dynamic process of creation. Our focus is team member addition. We identified resource–seeking and interpersonal attraction as primary alternative motivators for new teammate addition; however, we also illustrated how these motivations may be complementary in practice. Finally, we considered in some depth how new member identification and selection processes may unfold as new ventures are formed.

The Effects of Strategic Decision Making on Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

This study builds on the construct of entrepreneurial self–efficacy (ESE), which measures the degree to which individuals believe they are capable of performing the tasks associated with new–venture management. I examined whether entrepreneurs’ levels of ESE are influenced by the ways in which their ventures make strategic decisions. Results show that entrepreneurs exhibit a stronger belief in their own abilities when their ventures make decisions in ways that involve other employees, that are more comprehensive, and that incorporate more current information. Exploratory analyses also provide preliminary evidence that ESE enhances firm performance.

Cognitive approaches to new venture creation

Cognitive processes play a critical role in the formation of new ventures. Moreover, the effects of managerial cognition are likely to be more direct and immediate in new venture settings than in the context of larger, more established organizations. For these reasons, the theories and methods of managerial and organizational cognition can provide insight into the process of new venture creation. This paper reviews recent studies that take a cognitive approach to new venture creation and categorizes them according to the stage of new venture creation with which they are concerned. Key issues discussed include the formation of entrepreneurial intentions, the sensemaking processes of scanning, interpretation and action, the use of schema and heuristics in decision-making and the phenomenon of entrepreneurial alertness. Several preliminary research conclusions are drawn, and the implications of these findings for the practice of entrepreneurship are considered. Finally, several promising avenues for future research are explored.

Reconsidering the Strategic Implications of Decision Comprehensiveness

A key question in strategy is whether comprehensiveness enables firms to make better strategic decisions in various environments. I identify two problems hindering efforts to answer this question: past studies have generally theorized about a different dependent variable than they have measured, and they have conflated the concepts of uncertainty, ambiguity, and instability in accounting for environmental moderation. I then reframe the question and propose ways of characterizing organizational information environments so researchers can identify more precisely those real-world contexts across which the value of comprehensiveness varies.

THE SELF-DETERMINATION MOTIVE AND ENTREPRENEURS’ CHOICE OF FINANCING

Take the image of the entrepreneur as a driven accepter of risk, an individual (or set of individuals) hungry to amass a fortune as quickly as possible. This image is consistent with the traditional finance theory view of entrepreneurial startups, one that assumes that profit maximization is the firm’s sole motivation (Chaganti, DeCarolis & Deeds, 1995). Myers’s (1994) cost explanation of the pecking order hypothesis (i.e. entrepreneurs prefer internally generated funds first, debt next, and external equity last) incorporates this economically rational view of entrepreneurs’ financing preferences. According to this view, information asymmetry and uncertainty make the availability of external financing very limited and the cost of it prohibitively high. To compensate, entrepreneurs must give up greater and greater control in order to “buy” funds needed to achieve the desired growth and profitability. Indeed, Brophy and Shulman (1992, p. 65) state, “Those entrepreneurs willing to relinquish absolute independence in order to maximize expected shareholder wealth through corporate growth are deemed rational investors in the finance literature.” Undoubtedly, cost and availability explanations of financing choices are valid for many new and small businesses. However, many entrepreneurship researchers have long been dissatisfied with the incompleteness of this perspective.

Strategic Responses to an Environmental Jolt: Executive Turnover in Internet IPOs

We develop a model that predicts the likelihood that publicly-traded start-up firms will respond to a sudden drop in environmental munificence by replacing their CEO. The model proposes that CEOs who were founders, those who had prior experience as CEOs, and those who also held the position of board chair will be less likely to be replaced. We base these predictions on a set of knowledge-based and political considerations. We test the model on a sample of 127 Internet IPOs during the period following the dramatic devaluation of Internet stocks that occurred in Spring/Summer 2000. Results support all three hypotheses.

“Born, not made” and other beliefs about entrepreneurial ability

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved. Written by leading scholars, The Wiley Handbook of Entrepreneurship provides a distinctive overview of methodological, theoretical and paradigm changes in the area of entrepreneurship research. It is divided into four parts covering history and theory, individual differences and creativity, organizational aspects of innovation including intrapreneurship, and macroeconomic aspects such as social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in developing countries. The result is a must-have resource for seasoned researchers and newcomers alike, as well as practitioners and advanced students of business, entrepreneurship, and social and organizational psychology.

Innovation in K-12 Education: One District's Journey

The United States’ system of K-12 public education is an important cornerstone of American society. Public schools play a critical role in advancing our widely valued principles of community and opportunity. At the same time, public discussions of the U.S. educational system often reveal high levels of frustration and contention. In many districts, teacher morale and public confidence are low, and this has led some people to wonder how the system will meet the needs of students in a rapidly evolving society (e.g., Goldstein, 2015; Russakoff, 2015).

Teaching Students to Design and Commercialize New Products: A Journey in its Third Decade

Entrepreneurship education takes a variety of forms. In recent years, many colleges and universities have shown an interest in educational experiences that are both “cross-campus” and “experiential.” Cross-campus initiatives bring together students and faculty from different schools who might not otherwise interact. Experiential initiatives, meanwhile, create opportunities for students to learn by engaging in entrepreneurial activity, as opposed to simply studying it.