Browsing by Author "Leatherbee, Michael"

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    Act or Wait-and-See? Adversity, Agility, and Entrepreneur Wellbeing across Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic
    (2023) Stephan, Ute; Zbierowski, Przemyslaw; Perez-Luno, Ana; Wach, Dominika; Wiklund, Johan; Cabanas, Marisleidy Alba; Barki, Edgard; Benzari, Alexandre; Bernhard-Oettel, Claudia; Boekhorst, Janet A.; Dash, Arobindu; Efendic, Adnan; Eib, Constanze; Hanard, Pierre-Jean; Iakovleva, Tatiana; Kawakatsu, Satoshi; Khalid, Saddam; Leatherbee, Michael; Li, Jun; Parker, Sharon K.; Qu, Jingjing; Rosati, Francesco; Sahasranamam, Sreevas; Salusse, Marcus A. Y.; Sekiguchi, Tomoki; Thomas, Nicola; Torres, Olivier; Mi Hoang Tran; Ward, M. K.; Williamson, Amanda Jasmine; Zahid, Muhammad Mohsin
    How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.
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    From critique to catalyst: How academic entrepreneurs transform negative feedback into pivots and performance
    (2025) Motley, D. Carrington; Leatherbee, Michael; Katila, Riitta
    This study examines how academic entrepreneurs refine business ideas in response to external critique and how these responses relate to performance.We develop a framework that links feedback (critique), business-idea changes (pivots), and performance, and test itusing detailed data on external stakeholder feedback,changes to the business idea's core and periphery, and commercialization outcomes in 316 academic-led teams. Wefind that academic entrepreneurs frequently modify their business idea's core in response to negative feedback, and that core changes—rather than peripheral ones—are positively associated with commercialization. Challenging the idea that all entrepreneurs are inertial, we find that academic entrepreneurs both actively embrace and benefitfrom changes to the business idea's core. By tracing thefeedback-response dynamics of business idea components,our study adds granularity to research on pivoting
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    More structure or better social practices? Using a contingency lens to address ambidexterity gaps in innovative SMEs
    (2023) Rojas-Cordova, Carolina; Pertuze, Julio A.; Williamson, Amanda Jasmine; Leatherbee, Michael
    Purpose Environmental uncertainty (EU) and firm size (FS) generate inertial forces that can push small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to emphasize either exploration or exploitation. In this article, the authors explore how structural (e.g. formal processes, control and discipline) and social (e.g. employee support and decision-making involvement) managerial instruments counteract such inertial forces and enable SME ambidexterity. Building on the organization-context literature, the authors propose a model in which EU and firms' size moderate the relationship between structural and social managerial instruments on SME ambidexterity. Design/methodology/approach The authors examined a moderation model using surveys of chief executive officers (CEOs) and performance archival data from 237 Chilean SMEs. Findings The authors find that the positive effect of structure on SME ambidexterity decreases with FS. In contrast, social instruments have a positive effect on ambidexterity for larger firms, especially for those operating in uncertain environments. In cases in which EU and firms' size reinforce the exploration or exploitation tendencies of SMEs, structural and social instruments play a complementary role in achieving ambidexterity. Originality/value The authors contribute by proposing a contingent mix of structural and social instruments to enable SME ambidexterity. These results inform policymakers and SME managers by suggesting strategies to promote ambidexterity based on firms' size and EU.
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    Rest, Zest, and My Innovative Best: Sleep and Mood as Drivers of Entrepreneurs' Innovative Behavior
    (2019) Williamson, Amanda J.; Battisti, Martina; Leatherbee, Michael; Gish, J. Jeffrey
    This study investigates the antecedents of an entrepreneur's day-level innovative behavior. Drawing on 2,420 data points from a 10-day experience sampling study with 121 entrepreneurs, we find that sleep quality is a precursor to an entrepreneur's subsequent innovative behavior, in accordance with the effort-recovery model. Moreover, sleep quality is positively related to high-activation positive moods (e.g., enthusiastic, inspired) and negatively related to high-activation negative moods (e.g., tension, anxiety). Our multilevel structural equation model indicates that high-activation positive moods mediate the relationship between sleep quality and innovative behavior on a given day. These results are relevant for managing entrepreneurial performance.