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Research Summary: Many strategy studies implicitly rely upon inference to the best explanation (IBE) or modern abduction. We leverage recent work in the philosophy of science to consider how we arrive at "best" explanations, explanations that are lovely, in the sense that they are useful, general, and provide meaning, and likely, in the sense that they are close to the truth. Interpretation of observational results requires an understanding of context that statistical analysis alone cannot provide. At that point of encounter, historical methods—hermeneutics, contextualization and source criticism—can improve IBE by helping scholars (1) generate new candidate explanations and (2) systematically judge, privilege, and balance the explanatory virtues that constitute the loveliness and likeliness of explanations. Managerial Summary: Many strategy studies iteratively use data and theory to inference to the best explanation of observed phenomena. We leverage recent work in the philosophy of science to consider how we arrive at best explanations that are useful, general, provide meaning, and, at the same time, are close to the truth. Interpreting observational results requires an understanding of the context that statistical analysis alone cannot provide. At that point of encounter, methodological tools from the field of history can improve the process of determining the best explanation by helping scholars (1) generate new candidate explanations and (2) systematically judge and privilege explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successfully navigating critical uncertainties during the incipient stages of new ventures requires these ventures to develop learning systems, and building the right team may be key in this process. Drawing on prior work indicating that entrepreneurial teams form using either an interpersonal-attraction strategy (relationships with similar others in a close network) or a resource-seeking strategy (instrumental focus on complementary skills), we theorize that a dual formation strategy, although challenging to execute, is critical for early performance. Using dual formation strategies from the onset fosters the development of stronger transactive memory systems, because close relationships facilitate smooth coordination among founders specializing in complementary tasks. Transactive memory systems thus mediate the relationship between formation strategies and early entrepreneurial success. Findings from two field observational studies and a field intervention study support our theory: teams formed based on a dual strategy raised greater seed funding on Kickstarter--a leading crowdfunding platform--(Study 1), were more successful in a prestigious entrepreneurial competition (Study 2), and gained more profits from selling their initial products (Study 3). Our research advances knowledge on entrepreneurial team formation and offers practical recommendations to facilitate this process at such nascent, but critical, stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published testimony in management, as in other sciences, includes cases where authors have overstated the inferential value of their analysis. Where some scholars have diagnosed a current crisis, we detect an ongoing and universal difficulty: the epistemic problem of learning from testimony. Overcoming this difficulty will require responses suited to the conditions of management research. To that end, we reviewthe philosophical literature on the epistemology of testimony, which describes the conditions under which common empirical claims provide a basis for knowledge, and we evaluate ways these conditions can be verified. We conclude that inmany areas of management research, popular proposals such as preregistration and replication are unlikely to be effective. We suggest revised modes of testimony that could help researchers and readers to avoid some barriers to learning from testimony. Finally, we imagine the implications of our analysis formanagement scholarship and propose hownewstandards could come about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a large public research university in the United States, we examine the relationship between the characteristics of undergraduate college students' regional origins and students' interest in entrepreneurship. We find that several entrepreneurial indicators of students' regional origins predict students' entrepreneurial intent and ideation. One possible explanation for our results is that the extent of entrepreneurial activity in a region may imprint attitudes towards entrepreneurial careers on people growing up in those regions. Our findings suggest the composition of admitted students' geographical origins may impact the entrepreneurial focus of universities' student bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]