Feedback seeking in entrepreneurship research

perspective on entrepreneurs’ interpersonal feedback seeking identifies such interactions in entrepreneurship theories and processes, albeit not always explicitly referred to as “feedback seeking”. Theoretical approaches, such as effectuation (Sarasvathy, 2001), bricolage (Baker & Nelson, 2005; Fisher, 2012), and

For the rest of this thesis I use “feedback seeking” to refer exclusively to interpersonal

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feedback seeking, which is the focus of this doctoral research. Any references to

“market feedback” use the term explicitly to differentiate it from interpersonal feedback seeking.

regulation theory (Frese, 2007; 2009), implicitly or explicitly suggest that feedback seeking is one of the important activities for

entrepreneurs. Effectuation and bricolage are two closely related entrepreneurship theories that implicitly embed feedback seeking. On a fine-grained level, feedback seeking fits the co-creative and

interactive sprit of effectuation and bricolage and represents a specific way of how entrepreneurs involve others. Effectuation is a decision-making logic used by entrepreneurs in environments of uncertainty whereby they interact with others and involve customers as partners early in the process. For example, entrepreneurs may expose draft products to potential customers to seek feedback. This provides entrepreneurs with feedback about the desirability of their offerings by customers who are not interested in the offering or feedback that confirms decisions or provides suggestions and new ideas from customers who make pre-commitments (Read et al., 2016; Sarasvathy, 2001; 2008). From this theoretical perspective, feedback seeking aids entrepreneurs to cope with the uncertainty of creating new ventures, which is one of the fundamental aspects of entrepreneurial action (McMullen & Shepherd, 2006). Bricolage is a theory of entrepreneurial action in resource-constrained

environments. Bricolage adopts a similar approach as effectuation regarding interactions with others and proposes that one of the main ways entrepreneurs deal with resource scarcity is by involving

“customers, suppliers and hangers-on” in providing labour (Baker &

Nelson, 2005). While labour may be conceptualised in a traditional way, it can also include providing feedback, new ideas, and

suggestions, which can be seen in ideational bricolage (Desa &

Basu, 2012).

Emerging evidence supports the argument that feedback seeking is embedded in effectuation and bricolage. Fisher’s (2012) comparison of the fine-grained behaviours of entrepreneurs shows that when entrepreneurs engage in effectuation and bricolage, they share information about their products and crude solutions with blog readers and existing users to get feedback. A similar approach of

feedback is evident in the process of gaining first customers and developing capabilities during technology commercialisation (Corner

& Wu, 2012).

In contrast to effectuation and bricolage, action-regulation theory is a more planned and rational approach to entrepreneurial action, which explicitly addresses feedback seeking.

Action-regulation theory sees entrepreneurs as taking an active approach to learning and experimentation to improve their performance and achieve their goals. This involves engagement in an iterative cycle of planning, action to execute plans, managing errors in execution, and seeking feedback (Frese, 2007; 2009). Despite their differences, effectuation, bricolage, and action-regulation theory share aspects related to feedback seeking and can be adopted in different

situations or selectively in different domains (Baker & Nelson, 2005;

Reyman et al., 2015; Sarasvathy, 2001).

Feedback seeking is also embedded in fundamental

entrepreneurship processes. The emerging research suggests that entrepreneurs seek feedback when refining opportunities, innovating, and making fast strategic decisions. Entrepreneurs arguably refine their opportunities by seeking feedback from “communities of inquiry”

which represent potential stakeholders with standards, ideas, and needs relevant to the opportunity (Shepherd, 2015). Entrepreneurs seek feedback when generating and launching new ideas (Gemmell, et al., 2012; Katre & Salipante, 2012) as well as when balancing between radical and incremental innovation (Volery et al., 2015).

They seek feedback when commercialising new technology and developing dynamic capabilities, which helps them to gain first customers (Corner & Wu, 2012) and turn early customers and users into advocates who promote the offering (Fisher, 2012).

Entrepreneurs also seek feedback to cope with uncertainty. They seek feedback from trusted and experienced executives about new products, alliances, and strategic directions when making fast strategic decisions in uncertain environments (Eisenhardt, 1989). In situations of increasing uncertainty, feedback seeking can also help

entrepreneurs to reduce the negative emotions (Collewaert et al., 2016).

Feedback seeking functions as an entrepreneurship micro-foundation. Feedback seeking’s embeddedness in entrepreneurship theories and processes suggests that it contributes to higher-level phenomena, such as venture creation and innovation (Gemmell, et al., 2012; Katre & Salipante, 2012; Volery et al., 2015). Such

embeddedness exemplifies the definition of micro-foundations as lower-level entities developing, reproducing, and managing collective phenomena (Barney & Felin, 2013; Felin et al., 2012). Additional support for this argument is provided by feedback seeking’s

relationship to performance. Theoretical work suggests that feedback seeking enhances the performance of entrepreneurs (Frese, 2007;

2009). Feedback seeking can also aid venture performance as venture emergence is an implicit outcome of feedback-seeking interactions (e.g. Katre & Salipante, 2012; Sarasvathy, 2001; 2008).

Focusing on criticism as a type of feedback, research on seeking peer assistance demonstrates that seeking criticism of the design of e-commerce shops relates to perceived venture performance (Kuhn

& Galloway, 2015).

The complementary nature of interpersonal feedback seeking to market feedback, its role as a micro-foundation of entrepreneurial action, and its assumed relationship with performance highlight the importance of feedback-seeking interactions for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship research. Despite its importance for research and practice, there are multiple blindspots on entrepreneurs’ feedback seeking, which I discuss next.

2.4.2. Blind spots on entrepreneurs’ feedback seeking