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Founder Attributes and Self-Reported Decision-Making Styles in Startup Execution: A Dual-Process Perspective on
Ramesh Menon1, Leena James1, Elangovan N1
1School of Business and Management, Christ University, Hosur Road, Bengaluru 560029, India.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 28, 2026
Summary
Founder attributes influence startup decision-making differently in strategic versus operational contexts. Strategic decisions are more strongly linked to founder traits like experience and risk appetite than operational ones.
Area of Science:
- Entrepreneurial cognition
- Organizational behavior
- Decision science
Background:
- Startup success hinges on entrepreneurial decision-making during execution.
- Existing research often overlooks the distinction between strategic and operational decisions.
- These decision types vary in uncertainty, reversibility, and cognitive load.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between founder attributes and decision-making styles.
- To differentiate these relationships across strategic and operational decision contexts.
- To apply Dual-Process Theory to understand intuitive versus analytical decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Sequential exploratory mixed-methods design.
- Qualitative phase: 20 semi-structured interviews with Indian startup founders.
- Quantitative phase: Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) on data from 350 founders.
Main Results:
- Founder attributes showed context-specific associations with decision-making styles.
- In strategic decisions, cognitive orientation, domain experience, and risk appetite were significant (R² = 0.497).
- In operational decisions, only risk appetite remained significant, with lower explanatory power (R² = 0.125).
Conclusions:
- Founder attributes' impact on decision-making style varies by context.
- Strategic decision-making is more strongly influenced by founder attributes than operational decision-making.
- Emphasizes the critical role of decision context in entrepreneurial cognition research.
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