Exploring how entrepreneurs make decisions on the growth of their business: A cognitive perspective

The purpose of this study was to explore how entrepreneurs, who are past the start-up stage of business, evaluate and make decisions on growth opportunities. Small business growth is a complex, dynamic and episodic phenomenon and prior research on firm growth has emphasised cross-sectional approaches, rather than view growth as a dynamic process over time. Understanding small business entrepreneurs’ cognition and behaviours when making opportunity-related decisions will show how growth decisions are made. It is still unclear what cognitive styles and knowledge structures entrepreneurs use to process and frame information for opportunity-related decision-making. A closer look at opportunity evaluation, decision-making and entrepreneurial cognition revealed fragmentation, research gaps and areas for future research recommended by key scholars. As a consequence of this, an integrated process approach was taken using these three research streams. Specifically, a cognitive style lens, as a complex construct with multiple dimensions was used for viewing opportunity-related decisions, an approach missing from the opportunity evaluation literature. Additionally, the study was conceptually underpinned by dual process theory, the cognitive experiential self-theory or CEST. A longitudinal, concurrent triangulation design was used to explore the decision-making process over five time points in a two-year period. A mixed methods approach supported the pragmatic paradigm for an exploratory study. A multiple-case strategy used a sample of 11 small manufacturing entrepreneurs, from novice to mature, with 3-30 years’ experience as owner-manager. Data was collected at each time point using semi-structured interviews and two style assessments, the CoSI and REI. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis for the qualitative data. Combining interviews and psychometric questionnaires for triangulation produced robust findings. Data was used to construct cognitive maps and cognitive complexity for insight. Findings showed entrepreneurs were high on more than one style and switched between styles according to context, demonstrating styles were orthogonal. A unique finding was a synthesised, versatile style observed as a ‘mirror effect’ between the analytical and intuitive styles. Novices developed a more intuitive style over time, contingent with experience. A developing link in the novices’ mental structures showed how past experience increased cognitive complexity and connectivity. A further unique finding showed the central concept ‘Thinks it through’ in the decision process as a structural conduit or 'Hub' for both analytical and intuitive processing. Analysis suggested that cognitive complexity mediated the relationship between creative and experiential information styles and successful opportunity-related decision-making effectiveness. These unique findings show opportunity-related decisions as a dynamic, time-based process. The time-based model provided a framework for future opportunity evaluation research as a contribution to theory. Likewise, a dual process and information processing perspective has offered an alternative structure for examining opportunity evaluation. Finally, a teaching model was developed to improve metacognitive thinking and connectivity for decision-making effectiveness as a contribution to practice

Through the lens of the romantic child: portraits of children by Mark Hipper and Terry Kurgan

Thesis (M.A (History of Art))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Arts, 2016This research report explores how the eighteenth century Romantic Child Ideal influenced the representations of children created by artists Terry Kurgan and Mark Hipper, and subsequently what the responses to these works reveal about a relationship to and participation in the ideal within the context of South Africa in the late 1990s. Through a close reading of two seminal exhibitions, the group show Purity and Danger (1997) which featured Terry Kurgan’s photographs of her son, and Vicera (1998) Mark Hipper’s mixed media offering of child nudes, I analysed the manner in which these artists both perpetuate and subvert the Ideal through their specific visualisations of the child.MT201

Development: Opening Space for New Zealand Women's Participation in Scriptwriting for Feature Films?

This thesis explores whether an analytical practice, combining creative writing with activism and based in academia, can help open space for more women scriptwriters within New Zealand feature filmmaking. It links autoethnography with activist and experience-based methodologies within a creative writing framework that includes a memoir, an essay, a report, diaries and emails, an essay screenplay and weblogging, to present multiple views of an investigation into state investment in women‘s feature filmmaking and the researcher‘s own experience as an activist researcher and apprentice scriptwriter. It concludes that, within an analytical creative writing practice, autoethnography‘s accommodation of a single researcher participant‘s shifting roles may help to open space for women scriptwriters to contribute to New Zealand feature films

Conversations across the table: shared cognition in top management teams

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose – This paper aims to examine the shared mental models (SMMs) of a top management team (TMT) using an emergent perspective in conditions of uncertainty. The paper examines how a TMT conversation represents an emergent cognitive process to reach an action for future planning. Design/methodology/approach – The design uses an emergent SMM approach based on a TMT discussion in an uncertain context. Cognitive mapping techniques illustrate how concepts emerge and are structured. This approach addresses the need for an alternative to aggregate mapping methods and supports the notion of team cognition as an emergent and dynamic process. Findings – Findings showed that the emergence of a SMM could be elicited and represented using cognitive mapping techniques. Domain knowledge and social relationships supported the emergence of shared knowledge relevant for action on team tasks. A SMM based on team contribution and concept connectivity was identified. Research limitations/implications – The study is based on data collected from a recorded discussion in a quarterly company meeting, ten days before the UK’s original planned exit date, March 2019. Originality/value – This research study contributes to the SMM and team cognition literature streams by examining the TMT’s shared understanding as an emergent process. Empirical studies using cognitive mapping techniques in this context are rare

Integrating higher degree education with practice: exploring the value proposition of executive MBA apprenticeships

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI linkPurpose – The study aims to explore how the collective representations of stakeholders associated with an Executive MBA (EMBA) apprenticeship are conceptualised, and what value elements are perceived as relevant for personal, professional and organisational development. Design/methodology/approach – Forty stakeholders participated in a mixed methods-based group concept mapping (GCM) approach, representing the tripartite relationship of an EMBA apprenticeship. This approach allowed the deconstruction and shared understanding of the value proposition of higher degree apprenticeships. Findings – Analysis identified seven conceptualised value clusters around an eight central cluster “Professional Development”. Two regions of meaning were identified: the personal dimensions of apprentices and their contribution within and to their organisation. Findings showed that a work-based designed curriculum improves confidence and communication skills and that much of the value proposition is personal and self-managed by the apprentices. The tripartite relationship was shown to be incomplete and inconsistent, particularly regarding mentoring and reflective practice. Practical implications – The pandemic has brought about significant changes in business practice. This study identifies several areas for improving higher degree apprenticeship pedagogy in readiness for the new business landscape, as well as identifying limitations of the tripartite relationship. Originality/value – The study addresses a gap in the literature by exploring the value proposition an EMBA apprenticeship programme. The interrelatedness of cluster concepts has identified value elements missing from previous apprenticeship delivery. Deconstructing the senior leader apprenticeship enables educators to redesign and refine models of engagement for improving the apprenticeship experience. Keywords Higher degree apprenticeships, Mentoring, Reflection/reflective practice, Work-based learning, Vocational education and training, Executive MBA Paper type Research pape

Exploring Racism in Health Pedagogy

Utilizing a classroom incident that prompted formal public and informal private conversations about race across the campus of a New England regional comprehensive university, we suggest that the discussion of race in public health and health promotion is often compartmentalized. The pedagogy of public health and health promotion often examines race in terms of health disparities, access to health care, cultural sensitivity and competence among public health providers. While this examination is applauded, it does not adequately confront racism and the experience of race by students in actual public health classrooms. Race, we argue, appears theoretical and does not acknowledge the lived experiences of students in the classrooms and is without a discussion of whiteness or white supremacy. This piece explores a classroom approach to engage the topic of race through an examination of whiteness in order to inform future pedagogy and professional practice. We suggest that public health in both professional practice and as an academic discipline requires confronting white supremacy and racism not only in pedagogy but in course content, faculty development, and administration. We conclude that it is ineffective to merely embrace racial diversity without being anti-racist