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The creation and intentional pursuit of entrepreneurial ideas lies at the core of the domain of entrepreneurship. Recent empirical work in a number of diverse fields such as cognitive psychology, social cognition, neuroscience, and neurophysiology all suggest that dual processes involving affect and cognition have a significant impact on judgment and decision making. Existing cognitive models ignore this significant role. In this article we develop a framework for understanding the role of affect on idea perception and the intention to develop the entrepreneurial idea. We present a set of testable propositions that link affect to entrepreneurial idea perception through its influence on attention, memory, and creativity. A second set of propositions links affect to the intention to pursue these ideas further. We explore the boundary conditions and moderators of the proposed relationships, and discuss the implications of this framework for existing cognitive and psychological perspectives on entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of family firms to identify and respond to changes in their external environments can be a key source of competitive advantage leading to success and survival. Some research, however, has suggested family firms are conservative and often lack the ability to adapt to their changing competitive environments. Using data from 248 family firms, we found a family firm's culture of commitment to the business is positively associated with its strategic flexibility—the ability to pursue new opportunities and respond to threats in the competitive environment. Further, we found stewardship-oriented organizational culture positively moderated the family commitment-strategic flexibility relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational culture is an important strategic resource that family firms can use to gain a competitive advantage. Drawing upon the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, this study examines the association between four dimensions of organizational culture in family vs. non-family businesses and entrepreneurship. Using data from 536 U.S. manufacturing companies, the results show a nonlinear association between the cultural dimension of individualism and entrepreneurship. Further, there are positive linear relationships between entrepreneurship and an external orientation, an organizational cultural orientation toward decentralization, and a long- versus short-term orientation. With the exception of an external orientation, each of these dimensions is significantly more influential upon entrepreneurship in family firms when compared with non-family firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual arguments for the association between cultural characteristics and entrepreneurship have existed for decades but only in the last 10 years has this relationship been the focus of empirical scrutiny. In this article, we review and synthesize the findings of 21 empirical studies that examine the association between national cultural characteristics and aggregate measures of entrepreneurship, individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, and aspects of corporate entrepreneurship. The study concedes that a predominant number of empirical studies have used Hofstede's conceptualization of national culture and that other domains have been underdeveloped. A preliminary model that integrates past findings is extended. The review highlights fruitful avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]