Cognitive Maps and Perceptions of Entrepreneurial Growth: A Quasi-Experimental Study in the Differences between Technology Entrepreneurs, Corporate Managers, and Students

Abstract

This paper reports on a comparative quasi-experiment of how perceptions of entrepreneurial growth strategies differ between students, managers and technology entrepreneurs. The differences in perceptions as to what critical factors drive three strategies: no growth, market share growth and annual profit growth across to stages: start-up and take-off are measured. The ranks of the critical success factors are the dependent measures and the strategies and the phases the independent variables. Results show that experience impacts the ability to distinguish between strategies. Results also show that the perceptions of the critical success factors significantly differ between the groups. Hence even experience will yield quite different cognitive maps.

Keywords: Growth, profitability, technology entrepreneurship, cognitive maps, perceptions, critical success factors