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Article
Looking Before Leaping: the Effect of Owner Decisiveness on Small Business Performance
Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal
  • John Leaptrott, Georgia Southern University
  • J. Michael McDonald, Georgia Southern University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2008
Abstract

This study assesses the relationship between an owner’s characteristic decisiveness and the performance of his or her business in a sample of small business owners who started new childcare ventures. Decisiveness was found to be positively related to performance. This finding was contrary to expectations of a negative relationship based on prior research related to the effects that the need for cognitive closure have on decision-making processes. One possible explanation for this unexpected result is that often a somewhat intuitive decision-making process is often adequate, particularly for the less complex venture. In such a case, the additional expenditure of time and other resources required to conduct a more normative logic-based decision-making process may result in fewer of these resources being available to the venture once operations have commenced.

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Citation Information
John Leaptrott and J. Michael McDonald. "Looking Before Leaping: the Effect of Owner Decisiveness on Small Business Performance" Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal Vol. 14 Iss. 1 (2008) p. 1 - 12 ISSN: 1528-2686
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john-leaptrott/9/