Pivoting Pathways: Understanding Entrepreneurial Response to Feedback through Commitment and Threat Perception Chris van As S1011483 17-06-2024 Master Innovation & Entrepreneurship Wordcount: 10.781 Supervisor: Prof. dr. B. Hillebrand Second examiner:

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2024-07-01
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en
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Previous research has shown that start-up enterprises benefit from pivoting segments of their business model based on feedback from external market actors. Business model pivoting is a fundamental change of a business model component. However, literature has found that not all startup entrepreneurs utilize the feedback they receive. A reason for entrepreneurs not utilizing the feedback is because they have a strong commitment to their idea and find it difficult to use the feedback provided, preferring to stick to their initial concept. This research is centered around Bluehub, a small innovation consultancy firm. As a service to entrepreneurs Bluehub offers ‘Open Brains’, a platform where entrepreneurs can pitch their idea for a product or service to a small audience of Bluehub experts, innovators, and other interested people to receive valuable feedback. This research suggests that entrepreneurs who exhibit higher levels of commitment to their ideas may be less inclined to pivot their business model, as they are more invested in the success of their original idea. This research furthermore argues that the effect of commitment to the pitched idea does not always have the same effect on pivoting, a potential moderator in the context where entrepreneurs receive feedback from external individuals, could be the nature of the feedback and how it is interpreted. Feedback perceived as threatening, the degree to which an entrepreneur belief that the provided feedback challenges the pitched idea, could be a potential moderator explaining why some feedback is leading to pivots and others is not. Within this research context, commitment to a pitched idea shows no statistical relation to the degree of pivoting. While the hypothesis was that perceived threat of feedback would negatively moderate the relationship between commitment and pivoting, the data did not support this. However, perceived threat did have a positive, direct effect on the degree of pivoting.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen