"Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs.
Overconfidence has been reported to be a common bias among entrepreneurs and might be one cause of the high failure rates observed for new ventures. In this study, we investigate the overconfidence bias in a sample of 92 Austrian entrepreneurs, who responded to a general-knowledge questionnaire. The...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2018-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5940190?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818037790575689728 |
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| author | Viktorija Ilieva Thomas Brudermann Ljubomir Drakulevski |
| author_facet | Viktorija Ilieva Thomas Brudermann Ljubomir Drakulevski |
| author_sort | Viktorija Ilieva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Overconfidence has been reported to be a common bias among entrepreneurs and might be one cause of the high failure rates observed for new ventures. In this study, we investigate the overconfidence bias in a sample of 92 Austrian entrepreneurs, who responded to a general-knowledge questionnaire. Their levels of overconfidence were assessed by their responses to hard, medium and easy knowledge questions, and the relations of individual, organizational and environmental factors to the bias score were analyzed. The results confirmed that entrepreneurs are indeed prone to expressing overprecision, a type of overconfidence, but not when answering questions of all levels of difficulty. Being a single founder instead of a co-founder was identified as a significant predictor of overconfidence. Confidence, on the other hand, was associated with age and prior entrepreneurial experience, while accuracy was determined solely by age. The results of this study only partly agree with those of previous studies conducted in different national and cultural settings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:32:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ffa0d63db251465d994ef82186ccc0e2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:32:27Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ffa0d63db251465d994ef82186ccc0e22022-12-22T01:57:31ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032018-01-01135e019708510.1371/journal.pone.0197085"Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs.Viktorija IlievaThomas BrudermannLjubomir DrakulevskiOverconfidence has been reported to be a common bias among entrepreneurs and might be one cause of the high failure rates observed for new ventures. In this study, we investigate the overconfidence bias in a sample of 92 Austrian entrepreneurs, who responded to a general-knowledge questionnaire. Their levels of overconfidence were assessed by their responses to hard, medium and easy knowledge questions, and the relations of individual, organizational and environmental factors to the bias score were analyzed. The results confirmed that entrepreneurs are indeed prone to expressing overprecision, a type of overconfidence, but not when answering questions of all levels of difficulty. Being a single founder instead of a co-founder was identified as a significant predictor of overconfidence. Confidence, on the other hand, was associated with age and prior entrepreneurial experience, while accuracy was determined solely by age. The results of this study only partly agree with those of previous studies conducted in different national and cultural settings.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5940190?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Viktorija Ilieva Thomas Brudermann Ljubomir Drakulevski "Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs. PLoS ONE |
| title | "Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs. |
| title_full | "Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs. |
| title_fullStr | "Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs. |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs. |
| title_short | "Yes, we know!" (Over)confidence in general knowledge among Austrian entrepreneurs. |
| title_sort | yes we know over confidence in general knowledge among austrian entrepreneurs |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5940190?pdf=render |
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