This dissertation defense investigates the concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) through a phenomenological lens, focusing on the lived experiences of founder-owners of private companies. It seeks to clarify the sources, dimensions, and manifestations of EO, suggesting it is both an aspirational and dispositional phenomenon that impacts long-term business success. The study emphasizes the need for qualitative research in IO psychology to enhance understanding of EO and its practical applications in the entrepreneurial context.

1. A Phenomenological Inquiry of the Entrepreneurial
Orientation Phenomenon Based on the Lived Experiences of
Founder-Owners of Private Companies
Dissertation Oral Defense
Submitted to Northcentral University
Graduate Faculty of the School of Psychology
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Timothy G. Kelly, J.D., M.B.A.
February, 2015

2. Agenda
Introduction
Literature Review
Research Method
Assumptions, Limitations, Delimitations and Ethical Assurances
Findings
Implications and Recommendations
A special thanks goes to my Chair, Dr. Kelley Chappell, PhD for mentoring me
through this valuable learning experience!
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3. Introduction
 What factors are most related to a company’s long-term financial success?
 Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) has been found to be one such factor
 Miller (1983) introduced two organizational archetypes reflecting a firm’s environmental
adaptability, decision making processes, and strategy-making attributes
 Entrepreneurial: presence of three behavioral attributes of risk taking, innovativeness,
and proactivity
 Conservative: lacking one or more of the entrepreneurial attributes
 Scholarly debate continues concerning how best to:
 Define the EO phenomenon and its source;
 View its operationalization (e.g., dimensionality); and,
 Identify and measure its manifestation
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4. Methodological Design
 A descriptive phenomenological psychological design following the
Giorgi (2009, 2012) framework with
 Data collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 founder-
owners (FOs) of privately owned companies who have lived
experiences with the EO phenomenon at their respective firms
Introduction
Statement of Problem: Lack of a conceptually coherent and stable
understanding of fundamental aspects of the EO phenomenon
Purpose of the Study: Advance the understanding of the EO phenomenon
Research Question. How do FOs of privately owned U.S. based
companies who have lived experiences with the EO phenomenon at their
companies describe its source, dimensionality, and manifestation?
Critical Focus: A Carefully Aligned Dissertation Structure3

5. Significance of the Study
 Source data was collected from a novel and valuable group of participants
 Miller (1983) and others have called for more qualitative I/O psychology based EO research
 Study responds to debate concerning the phenomenon’s source, dimensionality, and
manifestation (Fayolle et al., 2010; Dess et al., 2011).
 A more developed theoretical understanding of EO offers the ability to
 Broaden its practical application
 Improve firm and country level performance
 Enhance employment opportunities and employee satisfaction
Introduction
Study Responds to Calls for More Qualitative Research Offering
Many Scientific and Practical Benefits
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6. Documentation
Recent peer reviewed articles;
scholarly journals in the fields of
I/O psychology, business,
economics, entrepreneurship,
finance, management, and
marketing; relevant dictionaries,
encyclopedias, textbooks.
Defining Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur
 Lack of single definition causes: confusion (Peneder, 2009), category error
(Sarasvathy & Venkataraman, 2011), a “hodgepodge” (Shane, 2012, p. 11), impeding
nearly every research effort so far (Okhomina, 2010), and a mess (Tedmanson,
Verduyn, Essers, & Gartner, 2012).
 This study defined the term entrepreneurship as the recognition, pursuit, and
exploitation of opportunities (Peneder, 2009)
Literature Review
Entrepreneurship is fundamentally a
personal phenomenon
“Trying to understand entrepreneurship
without understanding the entrepreneur is
like trying to understand Shakespeare
without taking Hamlet into consideration"
(Grigore, 2012, p. 25)
What is or makes a person an entrepreneur
is a question best suited for I/O
psychologists (Baron & Henry, 2011).
Factors related to
entrepreneurship
Context and externalities
Entrepreneurial cognition
Alertness
Personality traits
Rational and intuitive cognitive
styles
Locus of control and risk
tolerance
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7. Literature Review
Conceptualizing Entrepreneurial Orientation – The Big Debate
Lumpkin and Dess (1996) EO ModelMiller, Covin and Slevin EO Model (Covin &
Slevin, 1991; Miller, 1983, 2011)
Scholars Do Not Agree Which Model Best Defines the EO Phenomenon
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8. Research Method
Research Methods and
Design
 A descriptive
phenomenological
psychological method
research design (Giorgi,
2009, 2011) was employed
 Seeking a deeper
understanding of the EO
phenomenon’s: Source,
Dimensionality, and
Manifestation
 Data collected through
semi-structured interviews of
founder-owners (FOs) of
privately owned companies
with lived experiences of the
EO phenomenon
Participant selection
Interviewing – Data
collection
Data analysis - Within
the attitude of the
scientific
phenomenological
reduction
1. Transcripts were read several times to get a
sense of the whole experience and situation
3. Using free imaginative variation, meaning
units were transformed into psychological
meaning units highlighting participant’s lived
experiences with the phenomenon
Instrumentation
structuring
4. Psychological meaning units were
synthesized into a general psychological
structure of the EO phenomenon
2. Data were reduced to smaller, more
manageable transformed meaning units
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9. Population and Sampling
 Purposive and sub-group
sampling criteria identified 15
FOs
 Criteria targeted FOs from
firms with a strong EO and
with requisite experience with
the EO phenomenon to
provide valuable and rich
data
 11 FOs (nine males/two
females) agreed to participate,
signed IC forms, and provided
data through semi-structured
interviews conducted by
telephone.
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10. Assumptions
 FOs could objectively, honestly, and richly describe their lived EO experiences;
and
 FO could provide sufficiently genuine and varied life-world experiences
Limitations
 Researcher was the primary research instrument;
 Researcher’s dual role as both investigator as well as an intersubjective participant;
 Success bias in the data as well as participant self-reporting/self-attribution biases; and,
 Limited generalizability of the findings as normally present in qualitative studies.
Delimitations
 High evidentiary/analytical quality standards enhanced finding’s
trustworthiness/credibility;
 FOs are quintessential entrepreneurs driving their firm’s strategic behaviors with
exceptionally rich informative data; and,
 Subgroup sampling aimed at improved experiential memory recall
Ethical Assurances
 NCU IRB approval for both the study and form of IC used was obtained prior to any data
collection;
 Carefully structured and executed interview protocols; and
 Participant confidentiality, comfort, knowledge of process/rights were paramount
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11. Data Collection, Processing, and Analysis
 Each collection, processing, and
analysis stage was performed
consistent with the Giorgi (2009,
2012) method to:
 Insure analysis was systematic,
rigorous, methodologically
consistent, and
 Establish an auditable trail of the
research for replication purposes.
 All anonymously coded raw
transcript data and results were
documented electronically.
 High standards of evidentiary and
analytical quality were maintained to
enhance the study’s overall
trustworthiness and credibility of the
findings (Hastings, 2010; Tracy,
2010)
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12. Data Collection, Processing, and Analysis
Stage Four of the process produced an
intersubjective, nomothetic essence, and
general psychological structure of EO
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13. EO source elements
The EO phenomenon appears to be
an aspirational and dispositional
goal of entrepreneurs ... It resides
in the entrepreneur’s mind and
heart… it does not arise from the
company defending its market
position, but is nourished and
grown by entrepreneurs as they
actively build their companies...
FOs of newly started companies
seem to derive extreme energy,
conviction, and clarity of focus
from knowing what they want to
accomplish to grow their
businesses… FOs seem to thrive
on the roller coaster feel of their
company … nurturing the nascent
business like one nurtures one’s
own infant, remaining strong in
their convictions yet flexible in
response to market changes…
EO dimensional elements
An EO presents itself as a firm’s
competitive advantage; it is reflected
in the firm’s competitive astuteness
and its keen competitive insights. A
team within a company that has an
EO never sleeps. An EO is not seen
as a false sense of security by the
team; instead, an EO encourages the
team to question, learn, research, and
innovate to stay ahead of competitors
and market threats… a company that
has an EO does not do for the sake of
doing, it does because it makes sense
and because it is right for the
company’s constituents. An EO is
reflected by the company being
visibly strategic and forward
thinking, innovative, calculated risk
accepting, and proactive…
EO manifestation elements
An EO manifests itself in the
mind of every employee through
a shared mission, a common
pride in what they are doing, and
a sense of community amongst
the team. The environment of a
company with an EO is
constantly hustling, restless, and
paranoid... The team rates their
jobs as rewarding but insecure,
because insecurity to them
means it’s not a bureaucratic
boringly limited mobility
environment…The EO
phenomenon in this regard does
not reveal itself as a moment in
time manifestation or
experience, but a constant
journey that must be vigilantly
nurtured to keep in place and
active…
General Psychological Structure of EO
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14. Mixed: Mintzberg’s theory of organizational structure (TOS)
 Strategy making is a firm-wide phenomenon incorporating an organization’s mission,
culture, and values along with elements of planning, analysis, and decision-making
 Entrepreneurial stage firms grow through leaders’ opportunity recognition abilities
 Contradicts TOS that leaders make bold and highly uncertain decisions to grow
Findings Relative to EO’s Theoretical Foundations
Mixed: Schumpeter’s Theory of Entrepreneurship (TOE)
 No evidence that monetary gain motivates a new venture (being unemployed or
terminating employment to flee bureaucracy were common) versus TOE’s economically
motivated agent theory
 FO descriptors like adapting, survival, and keen strategic orientations are consistent with
the TOE’s organismic modes of adaptation and survival theory
Consistent: Khandwalla’s organizational contingency theory (OCT)
 Competitive awareness, constant learning, customer focus, forward thinking, and
opportunity recognition are critical dimensions to presence of an EO and growth
 EO’s manifestation is more leadership level and dispositional (OCT) versus firm level and
behavioral (TOE)
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15. Does size matter?
 Affirm Miller (1983, 2011) that small firms foster EO more than larger bureaucratic ones
 Suggests, however, that size is secondary to degree to which bureaucracy exists
Finds Relative to Existing Literature
Cognitive research
Contradicts literature that theorizes an entrepreneur’s nACH will reflect a tendency to do things quickly and
independently (Bhuian et al., 2010; Hunter, 2012).
Entrepreneurial intentions
Closely track scholars’belief that three psychological motivations underscore an entrepreneurial initiative:
“power” motivator (Peneder, 2009, p. 84); “ambition” motivator (Peneder, 2009, p. 84); and, the ”joy of
creating, of getting things done, or simply of exercising one’s energy and ingenuity” (Peneder, 2009, p. 84).
Importance of context relative to entrepreneurial behaviors
Inconsistent of a contextual nature behind FOs starting their firms. Participants reflected common
entrepreneurial tendencies, such as opportunity recognition, risk acceptance, desirous of building an
EO company, and other such characteristics; but, not all founded their company from an overt desire to
be an entrepreneur.
Market conditions effect on EO
EO not found to vary with changing market conditions or competitor aggressiveness in
contradiction to the literature
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16. Conceptualizations of the EO phenomenon
 EO source
 Firm support for the Firm-level Model’s conceptualization that FOs instill a host of
cognitive, dispositional, organizational, and cultural elements into a company in an
attempt to make it entrepreneurial and successful from its beginning.
 But, more alignment with the Individual-level Model that these elements are more
aspirational and proactive versus defensive to the marketplace.
 EO manifestation
 EO manifests in a variety of ways beyond merely new venture creation
 Aligns more with the Firm-level Model than Individual-level Model in this regard
 EO dimensionality
 Findings suggest that the EO phenomenon contains far more dimensionality than
Miller’s (1983, 2011) risk taking, innovativeness, and proactiveness dimensions
 Findings suggest that there are additional dimensions of the phenomenon worth
exploring; such as internal factors of EO Sensations, Community, Driven, and Public
Recognition
Findings Relative to Existing Literature
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17. Implications
EO Source Implications
 Findings that an EO flows from an aspirational orientation parallels the Individual-
level Model’s dispositional conceptualization. This is a critical finding questions much
of the extant literature that favors the Firm-level Model (Covin & Miller, 2014).
 Findings suggest a more hybrid model, possessing elements of both the Individual-
level and Firm-levels Models, may more properly conceptualize the EO phenomenon.
EO Dimensionality and Manifestation
 Findings suggest a host of additional dimensions similar to those that Covin and Miller
(2014) dismiss as spurious construct expansion: a competitive awareness (e.g.,
resource assembly), a constant learning (e.g., prior learning), customer focus (e.g.,
resource assembly), and a forward thinking strategic posture (e.g., resource
assembly).
 Findings suggest such additional factors are worthy of further study
Recommendations
 More psychology-based research into the phenomenon is warranted
 Further exploration into how dispositional intentions beyond the founder affect the
creation of an EO seems justified
 I/O psychologists should study the pathology of firms that have failed to maintain an EO
as a way to better understand the phenomenon
 I/O psychologists should explore ways to convert the vast wealth of knowledge concerning
the EO phenomenon into practical academic course material16

18. Thank you for allowing me to provide this
overview of my research!
Are there any questions?
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