Scott A. Jeffreya , Moren Lévesqueb and Andrew L. Maxwellc
aDepartment of Management and Decision Sciences, Leon Hess Business School, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ, USA; bSchulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada; cEntrepreneurial Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, Canada
ABSTRACT
By analyzing observed interactions between entrepreneurs and business angels (BAs) on the Canadian reality TV show Dragons’ Den, we find that BAs use a non-compensatory decision-making process when evaluating anticipated risk and return. This is consistent with our hypotheses that BAs use decision heuristics (shortcuts) to conserve cognitive effort when deciding whether or not to invest in business opportunities proposed by entrepreneurs. Our results further our understanding of how and when behavioral decision theory can inform real-life BA investment decision processes. Additionally, the results offer practical implications for entrepreneurs interested in pitching proposals to BAs.
KEYWORDS
Investment decision; entrepreneur; business angel; heuristics; (non-) compensatory decision-making
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13691066.2016.1172748
