IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v38y2014i2p399-426.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shouting from the Ivory Tower: A Marketing Approach to Improve Communication of Academic Research to Entrepreneurs

Author

Listed:
  • Paul R. Steffens
  • Clinton S. Weeks
  • Per Davidsson
  • Lauren Isaak

Abstract

Evidence–based practice in entrepreneurship requires effective communication of research findings. We focus on how research synopses can “promote†research to entrepreneurs. Drawing on marketing communications literature, we examine how message characteristics of research synopses affect their appeal. We demonstrate the utility of conjoint analysis in this context and find message length, media richness, and source credibility to have positive influences. We find mixed support for a hypothesized negative influence of jargon, and for our predictions that participants’ involvement with academic research moderates these effects. Exploratory analyses reveal latent classes of entrepreneurs with differing preferences, particularly for message length and jargon.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul R. Steffens & Clinton S. Weeks & Per Davidsson & Lauren Isaak, 2014. "Shouting from the Ivory Tower: A Marketing Approach to Improve Communication of Academic Research to Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(2), pages 399-426, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:38:y:2014:i:2:p:399-426
    DOI: 10.1111/etap.12079
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/etap.12079
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/etap.12079?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yalch, Richard F & Elmore-Yalch, Rebecca, 1984. "The Effect of Numbers on the Route to Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 11(1), pages 522-527, June.
    2. Per Davidsson & Scott Gordon, 2012. "Panel studies of new venture creation: a methods-focused review and suggestions for future research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 853-876, November.
    3. Kaish, Stanley & Gilad, Benjamin, 1991. "Characteristics of opportunities search of entrepreneurs versus executives: Sources, interests, general alertness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 45-61, January.
    4. Daniel McFadden, 1986. "The Choice Theory Approach to Market Research," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(4), pages 275-297.
    5. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    6. Green, Paul E & Srinivasan, V, 1978. "Conjoint Analysis in Consumer Research: Issues and Outlook," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 5(2), pages 103-123, Se.
    7. Hjorth, Daniel & Jones, Campbell & Gartner, William B., 2008. "Introduction for 'Recreating/Recontextualising Entrepreneurship'," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 81-84, June.
    8. Davidsson, Per & Steffens, Paul & Fitzsimmons, Jason, 2009. "Growing profitable or growing from profits: Putting the horse in front of the cart?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 388-406, July.
    9. DeTienne, Dawn R. & Shepherd, Dean A. & De Castro, Julio O., 2008. "The fallacy of "only the strong survive": The effects of extrinsic motivation on the persistence decisions for under-performing firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 528-546, September.
    10. Ronald K. Mitchell, 2011. "Increasing Returns and the Domain of Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(4), pages 615-629, July.
    11. Paul E. Green & Abba M. Krieger & Yoram Wind, 2001. "Thirty Years of Conjoint Analysis: Reflections and Prospects," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 31(3_supplem), pages 56-73, June.
    12. Frank R. Kardes & Bob M. Fennis & Edward R. Hirt & Zakary L. Tormala & Brian Bullington, 2007. "The Role of the Need for Cognitive Closure in the Effectiveness of the Disrupt-Then-Reframe Influence Technique," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(3), pages 377-385, May.
    13. Sara Carter, 2011. "The Rewards of Entrepreneurship: Exploring the Incomes, Wealth, and Economic Well–Being of Entrepreneurial Households," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 39-55, January.
    14. Min Ding & Rajdeep Grewal & John Liechty, 2005. "Incentive-aligned conjoint analysis," Framed Field Experiments 00139, The Field Experiments Website.
    15. Hirotugu Akaike, 1987. "Factor analysis and AIC," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 317-332, September.
    16. Dean A. Shepherd & Andrew Zacharakis, 1999. "Conjoint analysis: A new methodological approach for researching the decision policies of venture capitalists," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(3), pages 197-217, July.
    17. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne, 1985. "Measuring the Involvement Construct," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 341-352, December.
    18. Ratneshwar, S & Chaiken, Shelly, 1991. "Comprehension's Role in Persuasion: The Case of Its Moderating Effect on the Persuasive Impact of," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 18(1), pages 52-62, June.
    19. Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, 1986. "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 554-571, May.
    20. Woo, Carolyn Y. & Cooper, Arnold C. & Dunkelberg, William C., 1991. "The development and interpretation of entrepreneurial typologies," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 93-114, March.
    21. Petty, Richard E & Cacioppo, John T & Schumann, David, 1983. "Central and Peripheral Routes to Advertising Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Involvement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 10(2), pages 135-146, September.
    22. Uma R. Karmarkar & Zakary L. Tormala, 2010. "Believe Me, I Have No Idea What I'm Talking About: The Effects of Source Certainty on Consumer Involvement and Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(6), pages 1033-1049, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Davidsson, Per, 2017. "Opportunities, propensities, and misgivings: Some closing comments," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 123-124.
    2. Chan, C.S. Richard & Park, Haemin Dennis & Huang, Julie Y. & Parhankangas, Annaleena, 2020. "Less is more? Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between readability and screening evaluations across pitch competition and crowdfunding contexts," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    3. Lene Foss & Colette Henry & Helene Ahl & Geir H. Mikalsen, 2019. "Women’s entrepreneurship policy research: a 30-year review of the evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 409-429, August.
    4. Enav, Friedmann & Daphna, Brueller, 2018. "Is stereotypical gender targeting effective for increasing service choice?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 35-44.
    5. Chan Timothy Hor, Shoon, 2023. "Why we need design science in entrepreneurship research an idiosyncratic perspective based on the experiences and learnings of an ex-practitioner in training to be an entrepreneurship scholar," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    6. Cédric Baudet & Frédéric Favre & Vincent Mottet & Michel Kalika, 2016. "De la recherche en management à la recherche par les managers," Post-Print hal-01374428, HAL.
    7. Tracy, Elizabeth M. & Billingsley, Joseph & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Barber, Dennis & Beorchia, Ace & Carr, Jon C. & Gonzalez, Gabe & Harris, Michael L. & Michaelis, Timothy L. & Morrow, Grayson & Philli, 2021. "A behavioral insights approach to recruiting entrepreneurs for an academic study during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Merja Halme & Kari Linden & Kimmo Kääriä, 2009. "Patients’ Preferences for Generic and Branded Over-the-Counter Medicines," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 2(4), pages 243-255, December.
    2. Christian P Theurer & Andranik Tumasjan & Isabell M Welpe, 2018. "Contextual work design and employee innovative work behavior: When does autonomy matter?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-35, October.
    3. Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2015. "Harsh Evaluations of Entrepreneurs Who Fail: The Role of Sexual Orientation, Use of Environmentally Friendly Technologies, and Observers' Perspective Taking," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 253-284, March.
    4. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M. & Oppewal, Harmen & Lancsar, Emily, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part I. Macro-scale analysis of literature and integrative synthesis of empirical evidence from applied economics, experimental psychology and neuroimag," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    5. Braun, Alexander & Schmeiser, Hato & Schreiber, Florian, 2016. "On consumer preferences and the willingness to pay for term life insurance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(3), pages 761-776.
    6. Jayesh D. Patel & Dharmesh D. Gadhavi & Yupal S. Shukla, 2017. "Consumers’ responses to cause related marketing: moderating influence of cause involvement and skepticism on attitude and purchase intention," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, March.
    7. Florian Schreiber, 2017. "Identification of customer groups in the German term life market: a benefit segmentation," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 254(1), pages 365-399, July.
    8. Heribert Gierl & Armin Stich, 1999. "Sicherheitswert und Vorhersagewert von Qualitätssignalen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 5-32, January.
    9. Heribert Gierl & Tina Großmann, 2008. "Imply-Benefit-Attribute im Bereich häufig gekaufter Konsumgüter," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 355-384, June.
    10. Wang, Qiuzhen & Cui, Xiling & Huang, Liqiang & Dai, Yiling, 2016. "Seller reputation or product presentation? An empirical investigation from cue utilization perspective," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 271-283.
    11. Stevenson, Regan M. & Ciuchta, Michael P. & Letwin, Chaim & Dinger, Jenni M. & Vancouver, Jeffrey B., 2019. "Out of control or right on the money? Funder self-efficacy and crowd bias in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 348-367.
    12. Milad Haghani & Michiel C. J. Bliemer & John M. Rose & Harmen Oppewal & Emily Lancsar, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part II. Macro-scale analysis of literature and effectiveness of bias mitigation methods," Papers 2102.02945, arXiv.org.
    13. Kick, Markus, 2015. "Post ≠ Post: An Experimental Study on Corporate Brand Posts on Facebook," EconStor Preprints 182507, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    14. Hung Wei, Chien & Yuan Kao, Chen, 2010. "Measuring traveler involvement in urban public transport services: The case of Kaohsiung," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 444-453, November.
    15. Mahan, Joseph E. & Seo, Won Jae & Jordan, Jeremy S. & Funk, Daniel, 2015. "Exploring the impact of social networking sites on running involvement, running behavior, and social life satisfaction," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 182-192.
    16. O'Cass, A., 2000. "An assessment of consumers product, purchase decision, advertising and consumption involvement in fashion clothing," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 545-576, October.
    17. Marianne Bertrand & Dean S. Karlan & Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir & Jonathan Zinman, 2005. "What's Psychology Worth? A Field Experiment in the Consumer Credit Market," Working Papers 918, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    18. T. K. Das & Bing-Sheng Teng, 1998. "Time and Entrepreneurial Risk Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 22(2), pages 69-88, January.
    19. James Agarwal & Wayne DeSarbo & Naresh K. Malhotra & Vithala Rao, 2015. "An Interdisciplinary Review of Research in Conjoint Analysis: Recent Developments and Directions for Future Research," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 2(1), pages 19-40, March.
    20. Nitin Walia & Mark Srite & Wendy Huddleston, 2016. "Eyeing the web interface: the influence of price, product, and personal involvement," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 297-333, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:38:y:2014:i:2:p:399-426. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.