Pivoting or Persevering?
** 2021 JBV Lazaridis Best Paper Award Winner **
Research Paper Title:
“Pivoting or persevering with venture ideas: Recalibrating temporal commitments”
Authors:
Hans Berends (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Elco van Burg (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Raghu Garud (Pennsylvania State University)
Background:
Entrepreneurs are likely to confront unexpected events while pursuing their venture ideas given the uncertainties involved. Upon encountering such events, they may decide to persevere with their original ideas, or to pivot to deal with the unfolding contexts. This study addresses how entrepreneurs recalibrate their temporal commitments (i.e., the timing and the ordering of venture actions and milestones) in connection to their relational commitments. The researchers analyzed 22 episodes, across five separate ventures, when entrepreneurs had to decide whether to persevere or pivot in the face of unexpected events (such as problems in their development process, or new possibilities for expansion). The authors find that decisions to pivot or to persevere require a recalibration of the temporal commitments associated with venture ideas. To persevere, entrepreneurs position actions as a continuation of the past. They extend timelines and complexify temporal ordering. To pivot, entrepreneurs reposition actions on a revised timeline by reinterpreting the past to align with a new projected future.
Methodology:
Sample: technology-based new ventures
Analytical Approach: inductive qualitative analyses
Results:
When entrepreneurs encounter unexpected events, they have to attend to relational and temporal commitments simultaneously.
Pivoting and perseverance require a recalibration of the temporal commitments associated with venture ideas.
To persevere, entrepreneurs position their ongoing actions as a continuation of the past. They extend the temporal length of actions and milestones while complexifying the temporal ordering of action sequences.
To pivot, entrepreneurs reposition their activities on a revised timeline. They decrease the temporal length considered, and make the temporal ordering of action sequences contingent on the realization of projected actions and outcomes.
Conclusion:
The findings highlight the role temporal commitments play in entrepreneurs’ decision-making and the choices they have when they encounter unexpected events. To deal with unexpected events, entrepreneurs need to reconsider the venture’s past and the timing of actions and milestones. The researchers propose that temporal commitments must be approached in tandem with relational commitments. Only by combining the two can entrepreneurs decide whether to persevere with their original strategies or pivot towards unforeseen potential.
