Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    An Attractiveness Bias? How Women Entrepreneurs' Physical Appearance Affects Men Investors
    ( 2024) ; ; ;
    Dean Shepherd
    ;
    Philippe Tobler
    ;
    Joakim Wincent
    ;
    Aaron D. Hill
    Women founders frequently appear to encounter varied and often negatively biased decisions from investors. Our study builds on the theoretical and practical interest in understanding whether and how biases against women entrepreneurs are attributed to men investors’ cognitive and physiological (i.e., hormonal) responses to the women’s physical appearance. Using a cross-sectional research design, we recruited 106 experienced investors and randomly assigned them to one of two versions of a prerecorded pitch to test the effect of a woman entrepreneur’s physical attractiveness. The versions were identical in content and form but were delivered by different actresses, one of whom was considered highly attractive. We asked participants to observe the pitch and answer questions on related topics, including how likely they believed the business described would successfully progress through the screening stage of the investment process. In contrast to our hypothesis, we find that a woman entrepreneur’s attractiveness positively influences men investors’ assessments of her competence. These competence assessments lead to evaluations that the entrepreneur’s proposal would progress through the investment screening stage. We also theorize and find that men investors have a marked increase in cortisol levels when presented with an attractive woman entrepreneur. This increased cortisol leads to evaluations that the entrepreneur’s proposal would progress through the screening stage. Identifying the role physiological mechanisms play in investment evaluations underscores the importance of adopting proactive measures to ensure equitable and fair investment practices alongside fostering introspection within the investment community.
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  • Publication
    Working Paper: How Neurotransmitters Buffer Stress Effects: Evidence from the Neurological Manipulation of Nascent Entrepreneurs
    ( 2023) ; ; ;
    Tobler, Philippe
    ;
    Gvozdanovic, Geraldine
    Research has so far failed to explain why entrepreneurs bear a high level of stress but do not withdraw from the pursuit of opportunity. We conducted a pharmaceutical study including 120 nascent entrepreneurs and control participants. We theorize that higher levels of dopamine and noradrenaline compensate for the otherwise negative effects of the stress hormone, cortisol, on optimism and the propensity for risk, which are the key factors in the pursuit of opportunity. Our findings support the idea that entrepreneurs develop differences in neurotransmitter receptors by showing that increased dopaminergic and noradrenergic activity compensates for the negative effects of stress.
  • Publication
    Survival of the Fittest: Entrepreneurial Longevity and Venture Performance The role of sleep on decision-making and performance of entrepreneurs: Investigation of sleep- and performance-promoting interventions
    Entrepreneurship typically has been linked to tremendous amount of working hours, hugely demanding responsibilities for organizing business structure/environment, decision-making under a high-level of ambiguity and uncertainty that results in a feeling of stress and ultimately leads to problems in sleep and health, as well as a decrease in work performance. The general aim of the current project is to particularly investigate the contribution of sleep status on decision-making and entrepreneurial performance and test whether sleep-promoting interventions would lead to differential impacts in these outcomes. We suggest that impairments in sleep severely affect risk perception in decision-making and thus the performance of entrepreneurs. Building on the self-regulatory resource and the effort recovery models, we also contribute to the literature by evaluating the outcomes of interventions that address sleep through pre- and post-tests (withinsubject design) across different groups (between subject design). In addition, by integrating sleep and cognitive literature in the context of entrepreneurship, we investigate how cognitive errors, particularly “overconfidence”, mediate the effect of sleep on entrepreneurial decisionmaking and performance. Within the scope of the project, two studies will be carried out, one of which is an observationalstudy and the other is a longitudinal intervention study, both carried out in the field. Specifically in Study 1, we seek to determine if entrepreneurs' sleep habits significantly affect their decision-making processes and, consequently, their performance. Furthermore, we will establish whether overconfidence mitigates this effect and how this relates to changes in related biological and physiological mechanisms. In Study 2, we will determine how the implementation of 16 weeks of a sleep promoting intervention affects entrepreneurs' decision-making processes and performance as well as changes in related biomarkers and physiological data. 3 Considering the interdisciplinary integration of organizational psychology, entrepreneurship, decision-making, and sleep, this project will contribute to different and important streams of research. By including a longitudinal study, combining data from different sources – self-reports, biomarkers and physiological data -, we will be able to draw causal inferences about the effect of sleep in an entrepreneurial context. Completing the project successfully will provide beneficial intervention techniques for entrepreneurs to break the vicious circle of sleep problems and entrepreneurial performance. In addition to these, it is planned that the results obtained from the project will be published in high-ranked journals and the project outputs will be presented at national and international conferences abroad. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, sleep, self-regulatory resource model, effort recovery model, decision- making