Purpose-driven new venture ideation : navigating complementary mental simulation processes | |
| Author | Nguyen Vu Thuan |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.DBA-SOM-25-07 |
| Subject(s) | Entrepreneurship--Psychological aspects Strategic planning Creative ability in business |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Quality new venture ideas and the enterprising individuals behind them are critical to the success of purpose-driven start-ups that address society's problems. An examination of the existing entrepreneurship literature on imagining what consumers will want if and when reveals two primary types of mental simulation processes impacting on the new venture idea quality: the experiences of another’s (perspective taking) and one’s own personal experiences (creative imaginativeness and passion for inventing). I propose that perspective taking, creative imaginativeness, and passion for inventing of enterprising individuals drive quality new venture ideation. Drawing on the simulated empathy theory, I attribute this to three complementary simulation processes: mental simulation of another’s experience (perspective taking), self-experience including cognitive-based (creative imaginativeness) and feeling-based (passion for inventing that are meaningful to the self-identity of the enterprising individuals). I test my hypotheses across three experiments with different purpose-driven scenarios. In Study 1 with business, marketing and entrepreneurship students, I manipulate perspective taking with a purpose-driven scenario related to health issues and found that perspective taking increases the quality of new venture ideas. In Study 2 with managers, I manipulate perspective taking with a purpose-driven scenario related to helping others demonstrating the mediating role of passion for inventing on the above main effect. Finally, in Study 3 with entrepreneurs, I conduct a similar experiment to Study 2, involving a scenario that also includes helping others to test the moderating role of creative imaginativeness. I find that enterprising individuals who are in mental simulation of another’s experience (perspective taking) and have high (vs. low) level of creative imaginativeness will report high (vs. low) passion for inventing, which in turns increases quality of new venture ideas. I conclude with a discussion of the dissertation research's theoretical and practical contributions. Overall, this dissertation provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding the cognitive-affective mechanisms that drive high-quality entrepreneurial ideation by bridging the gaps between simulated empathy theory, entrepreneurial imaginativeness, and passion driven innovation. This dissertation also suggests several practical implications for entrepreneurs, innovation managers, and educators involved in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation. |
| Year | 2025 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Management |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (Publication code = DBA-SM, SM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Liem, Viet Ngo;Badir, Yuosre F.M., (Co-chairperson); |
| Examination Committee(s) | Trau, Dieter Wilhelm;Phung, Van Dong; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2025 |