Strome School of Business, Old Dominion University
Question: What are your key areas of research?
Broadly speaking, I study the psychology of entrepreneurship and all that falls under this umbrella; cognition, decision-making, heuristics and biases, and behavioral/action processes that explain and predict how people go about launching and developing new ventures. As this is a fairly established domain of research now, most of my work takes on an international or cross- cultural context in some way, which (I hope!) adds value and novel insights to some of these longstanding conversations in the literature. For instance, my core passion project/area has centered on trying to better understand how and when overseas living and travel experience can help (or hinder) entrepreneurial decision-making and activity in pronounced ways.
Question: What are you currently working on?
A couple of areas have fascinated me in recent years. The first centers on how the social class backgrounds of founders permeate their personal entrepreneurial orientation in ways that impact the performance of their ventures. For instance, in one forthcoming study, we found that the social class origin of an entrepreneur (i.e., working-class or middle-class) influences their perceptions of and willingness to take risks, which subsequently boosts (or dampens) their performance. The second area sits in the growing stream of research surrounding religion and entrepreneurship. I’ve been exploring how religious modes of thinking are surprisingly similar to entrepreneurial thinking when it comes to the heuristics one adopts in the face of deep uncertainty about the future.
Question: What are a few of your personal hobbies?
Since moving to coastal Virginia in 2019, I’ve gotten into kayak fishing out on the inlets and Chesapeake bay! I’m a pretty useless fisherman, but I really enjoy being out on the water. Also, I’ve (re)taken up boxing to try and keep fit. Getting punched in the face repeatedly each week makes Reviewer 2’s jabs seem feeble in comparison.
Question: What advice would you give to someone new to IE research?
As many fields (or subfields) mature, they tend to become rather saturated. A handful of topics dominate the journals and incumbent scholars become rather myopically focused on these narrow issues. As a result, things become dull, and the field spins-its-wheels on uninteresting minor iterations of the same research questions. My (polemicist!) preamble aside there, as a new scholar to the area, you have the unique ability to see things with fresh eyes and re-ignite interest in the field by applying novel approaches, theories, and perspectives! My advice is to pursue interesting questions that relate to cross-border (or cross-cultural) entrepreneurial activity and don’t worry too much about whether someone else “counts” it as belonging to IE or not. Don’t be afraid to be a little contrarian.
Question: Where will we see you next? (Conference?)
I will hopefully be at the AIB conference next summer in Manchester (a good excuse to get back to Old Blighty and see family and friends too!)