Daniel Clark

• Clark, D. C.; Covin, J. G.; Pidduck, R. J., (Forthcoming), "Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation: Scale Development and Validation", Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice
  Abstract: Recent research introduced and laid the foundation for a new individual-level entrepreneurial orientation conceptualization (Ind.EO) within the entrepreneurial orientation family of constructs. Building directly from this work, this article theoretically defines a measurement model for the construct and develops and validates a scale. We define and measure disposition-based behavior constructs for autonomy, competitiveness, innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking, thus providing psychometrically validated tools that support research in the burgeoning Ind.EO domain. Scale items are generated deductively from our definitions, and then tested through four data collections with academics, the lay population, entrepreneurs, and business managers. Strong validation data across these multiple samples support the utility of the final 17 items and that they can be used to measure Ind.EO. Furthermore, we provide unique theoretical insights regarding the value of the autonomy and competitiveness components of Ind.EO and investigate the core personal values associated with Ind.EO.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10422587241279900

• Clark, D. C.; Pidduck, R. J., 2024, "International new ventures: Beyond definitional debates to advancing the cornerstone of international entrepreneurship", Journal of Small Business Management, August 62(3): 1 - 23.
  Abstract: International entrepreneurship—the field dedicated to the discovery, enactment, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities across national borders to create future goods and services—is as inextricably linked to firm activity as entrepreneurship, strategy, or international business. However, for much of the past 30 years the field has been hampered by confusion and inconsistency over definitions and existential questions such as, “What is a born global?”; “what is an international new venture?”; and “how does one distinguish emerging firm types?” While many of these questions have been previously answered in isolation, confusion remains, as the field lacks a coherent unified perspective of firm activity. In this introduction to our thematic issue on international entrepreneurship, we address this need, present a unified model of international new ventures drawn from the latest definitions and distinctions, and call for future research that fully integrates form into the conversations of opportunity, technology, liability, and the unique network and value-chain alignments that exist across borders. We also discuss how we can better integrate and add value to nascent trends more broadly from neuroscience, deglobalization, intercultural arbitrage, and other areas.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2022.2149761

• Pidduck, R. J.; Clark, D. C.; Zhang, Y. J., 2024, "Cultivating entrepreneurial human capital in multinational corporations: An intercultural paradox mindset lens", Journal of World Business, August 59(5)
  Abstract: The development of an entrepreneurial strategic orientation is of growing concern for global corporations. Through a human capital lens, we probe how and when firms can develop and cultivate managerial entrepreneurial resources; by explicitly encouraging cross-cultural experiences that stimulate systematic shifts in mindset and behavior. Drawing on paradox theory and intercultural psychology, we put forth a model positing that cross-cultural experience (an endowment firms can either hire for or facilitate themselves) develops managerial entrepreneurialism—consisting of (a) venture ideation, (b) opportunity recognition, and (c) entrepreneurial behavior—through the intervening mechanism of a paradox mindset. As a boundary condition we uncover that paradox mindset formation partially hinges on home cultural tightness-looseness. We employ three distinct experiments on multinational samples of individual professionals (n = 506), active entrepreneurs (n = 370), and current managers in global firms (n = 288) to test our theorizing. Finding general support for our model, with analyses yielding important theoretical and practical implications from non-findings too, we conclude that a paradox mindset is a necessary, but not de facto, mediating step between cross-cultural experience and the cultivation of entrepreneurial managers. We also find that paradox mindset formation is conditional and related to home cultural tightness-looseness.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2024.101554

• Clark, D. C.; Hunt, R. A., (Forthcoming), "The Challenge and Opportunity of a Quantum Mechanics Metaphor in Organization and Management Research: A Response to Shelef, Wuebker, and Barney’s “Heisenberg Effects in Experiments on Business Ideas”", Academy of Management Review
  Abstract: In their recent Academy of Management Review article "Heisenberg Effects in Experiments on Business Ideas," Shelef, Wuebker, and Barney (2024) develop a theory concerning firm experimentation with new business ideas, The article extends and enhances extensive prior work on the informational gains and attendant costs of experimentation.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amr.2024.0134

• Pidduck, R. J.; Clark, D. C., (Forthcoming), "Alert during what? Beyond the “Big O” to a culturally-cognizant, process view of entrepreneurial alertness", Asia Pacific Journal of Management
  Abstract: Entrepreneurial alertness is a psychological aptitude generally associated with aspects of nascent venturing, centered on individuals’ environmental observations, the association of resources, and idea evaluation. A decade following the Tang et al. (2012) consensus construct and scale, critiques remain questioning its utility and unique value to the major conversations in entrepreneurship. Proponents put great emphasis on entrepreneurial alertness’s proven association with opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial actions. Yet, critics suggest it might be an unnecessary step offering little more than a positive association with opportunity recognition in a highly generalized and static way. The purpose of this paper is to address this tension. We do so through a ‘steel man’ approach to these valid concerns. Further, we question the logic of limiting a cognitive construct to a singular event: ‘opportunity recognition’ for a new venture (which we term here, the “Big O”). Drawing on a comprehensive framework inclusive of the full entrepreneurship phenomenon, and integrating insights from cross-cultural psychology, we put forth the case for an ongoing culturally contextualized process perspective towards venturing where individuals are alert to and pursue opportunities (and cope with threats) continuously. This paper provides a new framework for delineating a theoretically grounded “what” and “when” of entrepreneurial alertness.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10490-024-09965-1

• Clark, D. C.; Bradley, K., 2024, "Entrepreneurial Leadership: Putting the “U” in Team", Business Horizons, March 67(2): 183 - 198.
  Abstract: Entrepreneurial firms, due to their size and limited resources, are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent. These challenges place the firm’s survival and success in jeopardy, as they waste resources on talent management and operate amid talent shortfalls. Simply put, in the scale-up phase, managing talent could be the most important activity entrepreneurs pursue. While entrepreneurs cannot eliminate their strategic shortcomings (e.g., prestige, the ability to pay top salaries), they can take advantage of their unique strengths (e.g., a more intimate environment, job flexibility, and greater opportunities for growth, advancement, and leadership) to make themselves more competitive among candidates not necessarily destined for large corporations. In this article, drawing upon the lessons of best practice and theory, we make three recommendations for entrepreneurial hiring managers: (1) treat all prospective employees as transformative organizational members, (2) recognize and embrace the contributions of all, and (3) make new and established employees consistently feel valued. While these lessons allow all managers to display their organizational strengths, they provide the best return on investment for those with the greatest hiring challenges: entrepreneurs.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0007681323001209

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2023.11.004

• Clark, D. C., (Forthcoming), "Generating entrepreneurial imaginativeness from intercultural Janusian thinking", European Management Journal
  Abstract: Research on the importance of entrepreneurial imaginativeness in new venture development continues to grow. Empirical studies so far have focused predominantly on its ideation-based outcomes—the number and quality of ideas produced. Knowledge remains scant, however, on imaginativeness' antecedent mechanisms and mediating role in nascent venturing (the activities that often precede formal launches). We integrate another growing research stream in entrepreneurship—multicultural experience—to probe how the creative, social, and practical cognitive schemas underpinning entrepreneurial imaginativeness can be generated through dimensions of perhaps the most distinctive form of cultural exposure: living abroad. Drawing upon schema theory and combining precepts of Janusian-cognition and abductive thinking, we find support for our theorizing that depth and breadth of experiences of living abroad relate to imaginativeness facets differentially, which in turn can help us understand the extent to which entrepreneurs attempt to launch ventures. We consider both the theoretical and broader practical applications that deliberative imaginativeness cultivation might have, discussing some of wide-reaching and constructive implications this holds for the development of innovative economies.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2024.01.008

• Clark, D. C.; Tietz, M. A., (Forthcoming), "Surviving to Long-Term Thriving Through Augmented Entrepreneurial Resourcefulness: An Extension to Jeffrey McMullen’s “Real Growth Through Entrepreneurial Resourcefulness: Insights on the Entropy Problem from Andy Weir’s The Martian”", Academy of Management Review, January 0
  Abstract: Artificial intelligence and abiotic growth mechanisms such as 3-D printing, crystalline growth, and nano reproduction are resources that are increasingly available to entrepreneurs. These resources can fundamentally define the entrepreneurial resourcefulness model play allowing the entrepreneur to significantly reduce the entropy of their own efforts and become much more efficient. Expanding on the McMullen (2022) model, we argue that these resources can, through repeated iterations, allow the entrepreneur to retain additional value from their labour for their own benefits. This value that will compound through iterations; facilitating, even in a closed system, wealth creation such that the entrepreneur is no longer struggling to survive, but potentially working to thrive.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amr.2023.0253

• Clark, D. C.; Pidduck, R. J.; Lumpkin, G. T.; Covin, J. G., 2024, "Is It Okay to Study Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) at the Individual Level? Yes!", Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, January 48(1): 349 - 391.
  Abstract: Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is an important construct in the fields of management and entrepreneurship research. Interest in EO knowledge continues to thrive with a burgeoning research agenda in multiple contexts and with diverse implications. However, a subset of this research, which endeavors to apply the EO construct to explain or predict individuals’ entrepreneurial beliefs and behaviors, has met with resistance. This paper examines the case for EO at the individual level (Ind.EO). We consider the EO legacy concerns, and the various theoretical implications and benefits of doing so. Drawing upon an “EO as a family of constructs” framework, we propose paths forward for studying Ind.EO credibly, consistent with, but distinct from, traditional firm-level EO. Finally, we outline a research agenda and discuss the contributions and potential implications for Ind.EO research across the wider entrepreneurship discipline.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10422587231178885

• Clark, D. C., 2023, "Embracing whistleblowing for enhanced firm self-regulation", Business Horizons, November 66(6): 817 - 833.
  Abstract: Whistleblowing is extraordinarily controversial because its occurrence is often reflective of fundamental failures in organizational governance, making leadership look bad. I argue that this perspective is shortsighted; rather, whistleblowing is a critical self-regulatory mechanism that, when properly actualized, protects asset value. I build on new research exploring a whistleblower orientation and integrate it with existing research on internal whistleblowing programs and whistleblowing cultures. Against this background, I present a novel, three-tier integrated program focused on promoting, supporting, and protecting a specific group of value-driven, highly moral—herein termed offended—whistleblowers to enhance firm self-regulation against fraud, sexual harassment, toxic cultures, and other malfeasances that occur both within firms and by their own actions. Whereas previous research has focused on organizational responses to whistleblowing, central to this program is identifying, nurturing, and supporting an idiosyncratic whistleblower orientation within key employees for a firm’s own protection. The implication is that owners and managers can harness the power of whistleblowing, thereby protecting their firms, with less risk of individuals taking their grievances outside, where they could instead harm firms.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2023.05.003

• Clark, D. C., 2023, "Exceptionality in Entrepreneurship: Systematically Investigating Outlier Outcomes.", Journal of Business Venturing Insights, November 20
  Abstract: Entrepreneurship is the study of ordinary people doing extraordinary things: outliers in society, seeing and enacting new venture opportunities, while most others do not. Historically, the field of entrepreneurship has been dominated by competing homogeneity and heterogeneity perspectives. Extending current heterogeneity trends in the domain, this article builds the case for the benefits of examining the exceptional of the exceptional: entrepreneurs that produce extraordinary results. We argue that outlier entrepreneurs are not aberrations or empirical nuisances to be explained away or “fixed” through statistical wizardry. Rather, in most entrepreneurship phenomenon, those extremely high performing and disproportionately influential cases are “the goal” of entrepreneurship, and exactly where valuable theory-building potential lies. Building on several growing conversations in entrepreneurship research, we introduce why some phenomenological domains share characteristic potential for generating important insights using an outlier approach and present a set of methodological tools to tackle them.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673423000513

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00422

• Clark, D. C.; Tietz, M. A.; Kumar, M., 2023, "Getting to the one: Prioritizing an idea set using preference-based decision-specific heuristics", Journal of Small Business Management, September 61(5): 1 - 41.
  Abstract: We propose and test a process where potential entrepreneurs (PEs) prioritize a venture idea consideration set using preference-based decision-specific heuristics to assess idea feasibility and desirability. We test our hypotheses through two studies with PEs. The first experiment shows that prioritization occurs, with 113 of 122 PEs voluntarily changing a randomized list of their ideated ventures into a rank-ordered priority list of potential opportunities. Second, we employ a novel “equivocal forced-choice” conjoint design with 250 PEs. We find empirical support that PEs prioritize via relative preferences for experience-based knowledge, strong social ties, and low risk/low reward venture ideas. We contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by theorizing and providing evidence of a prioritization stage for multiple idea sets before evaluation. Further, we demonstrate the influence of individual and social network factors on prioritization and expand our understanding of how PEs conceptualize risk in venturing.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00472778.2022.2082454?scroll=top&needAccess=true

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2022.2082454

• Pidduck, R. J.; Clark, D. C.; Lumpkin, G. T., 2023, "Entrepreneurial mindset: Dispositional beliefs, opportunity beliefs, and entrepreneurial behavior", Journal Of Small Business Management, January 61(1): 45 - 79.
  Abstract: Research on entrepreneurial mindset (EM) has proliferated in recent years. Its importance rests on a key assumption: EM matters for entrepreneurial behavior. However, to date, EM conceptualizations remain fragmented, and theories delineating the relationship between EM and the behaviors underpinning entrepreneurship are limited. In this article, we conceptualize EM as a goal orientation formed through dispositional beliefs about entrepreneurship and opportunity beliefs, which results in entrepreneurial behaviors. We draw upon recent advances in entrepreneurial orientation (EO) research at the individual level as a model for dispositional beliefs. Further, we theorize the origins, mechanisms, manifestations, and effect of EM. Finally, we discuss important implications for stakeholders interested in leveraging EM to stimulate entrepreneurial activity and lay out a research agenda for future development of our disposition-based framework.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2021.1907582

• Pidduck, R. J.; Shaffer, M. A.; Zhang, Y.; Clark, D. C., 2022, "Unpacking the emergence of born global founders: A careers perspective", Journal Of Small Business Management, November 60(5): 1 - 41.
  Abstract: New ventures that internationalize aggressively from or near founding have been of continued interest in international entrepreneurship. A rich literature now exists in which researchers make numerous distinctions between types or subcategories of rapidly internationalizing firms and how these relate to nuances in performance outcomes. Conversely, little progress has been made toward a theoretical understanding of why these seemingly unique firms emerge in the first place. We contend that a key question remains unanswered: Why do some entrepreneurs from the outset compound the liability of newness, inherent in entrepreneurship, with the liability of foreignness, inherent in internationalization? Drawing from social cognitive careers theory, we developed a model explaining the emergence of entrepreneurial intentions to found explicitly global ventures. We tested our model across two distinct studies, using a multiwave multicountry approach, and found consistent support for an interest pathway to these entrepreneurial intentions. The simple, yet novel, implication is that noneconomic logic shaping entrepreneurs’ vocational choices can help explain why some founders take additional risks by overtly focusing on aggressive global growth from inception.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2020.1816432

• Clark, D. C.; Pidduck, R.; Tietz, M. A., 2022, "The Malleability of International Entrepreneurial Cognitions: A Natural Quasi-Experimental Study on Voluntary and Involuntary Shocks", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, March 28(3): 741 - 766.
  Abstract: Purpose - We investigate the durability of international entrepreneurial cognitions. Specifically, we examine how advanced business education and the Covid-19 pandemic influence international entrepreneurial orientation disposition (IEOD) and subsequently entrepreneurial intentions, to better understand the psychological dynamics underpinning the drivers of international entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach - Against the backdrop of emerging entrepreneurial cognition and international entrepreneurial orientation research, we theorize that both a planned business education intervention (voluntary) and an unforeseeable radical environmental (involuntary) change constitute cognitive shocks impacting the disposition and intention to engage in entrepreneurial efforts. We use pre and post Covid-19 panel data (n = 233) and uniquely identify the idiosyncratic cognitive effects of Covid-19 through changes in the OCEAN personality assessment. Findings - Findings demonstrate that when individuals’ perceived psychological impact of Covid-19 is low, business education increases IEOD. Conversely, the effects of a strongly perceived Covid-19 impact reduce the risk-taking and proactiveness components of the IEOD scale. We trace the same effects forward to entrepreneurial intentions. Originality - We uniquely employ a baseline measure of all our constructs pre-Covid-19 to discern and isolate the pandemic impact on entrepreneurial dispositions and intentions, responding to recent calls for more experimental designs in entrepreneurship research. Research limitations/implications - This paper contributes to a greater understanding of the resilience of entrepreneurial dispositions through an empirical test of the IEOD scale and shows its boundary conditions under planned intervention as well as unplanned externally induced shock. Practical implications - We offer a first benchmark to practitioners of the malleability of international entrepreneurial dispositions and discuss the potential to encourage international entrepreneurial behaviour and the individual-level dispositional risk posed by exogenous shocks.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://resolver.scholarsportal.info/resolve/13552554/v28i0003/741_tmoiecsovais.xml

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-08-2021-0639

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