IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobuve/v16y2021ics2352673421000652.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A behavioral insights approach to recruiting entrepreneurs for an academic study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • 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
  • Phillips, Duygu
  • Rutherford, Matthew W.
  • Sheats, Lewis

Abstract

What should researchers say when recruiting entrepreneurs to participate in their study? Using a sample of entrepreneurs (N = 1,450) who were being asked to participate in an academic research project, we conducted an experiment to determine recruitment message efficacy. Drawing on best practices from the behavioral insights literature, we developed different email message recruitment statements that were randomly assigned across four phases of our experiment. Results indicate that a message grounded in the “descriptive norms” (i.e., social norms) approach resulted in the highest percentage of participants who clicked on the link to participate in our online survey. We discuss the theoretical as well as practical implications of our work.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:16:y:2021:i:c:s2352673421000652
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2021.e00287
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673421000652
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbvi.2021.e00287?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson,Stephen J. & Lazicky,Christy Marie & Zia,Bilal Husnain, 2019. "Measuring the Unmeasured : Combining Technology and Behavioral Insights to Improve Measurement of Business Outcomes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8836, The World Bank.
    2. Erica Rose Denhoff & Carly E Milliren & Sarah D de Ferranti & Sarah K Steltz & Stavroula K Osganian, 2015. "Factors Associated with Clinical Research Recruitment in a Pediatric Academic Medical Center—A Web-Based Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Raisa B Gul & Parveen A Ali, 2010. "Clinical trials: the challenge of recruitment and retention of participants," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1‐2), pages 227-233, January.
    5. Wennberg, Karl & Anderson, Brian S. & McMullen, Jeffrey, 2019. "2 Editorial: Enhancing Quantitative Theory-Testing Entrepreneurship Research," Ratio Working Papers 323, The Ratio Institute.
    6. Anderson, Brian S. & Wennberg, Karl & McMullen, Jeffery S., 2019. "Editorial: Enhancing quantitative theory-testing entrepreneurship research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1-1.
    7. Valentin Amrhein & Sander Greenland & Blake McShane, 2019. "Scientists rise up against statistical significance," Nature, Nature, vol. 567(7748), pages 305-307, March.
    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. Billingsley, Joseph & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Michaelis, Timothy L. & Tracy, Elizabeth M. & Barber, Dennis & Beorchia, Ace & Carr, Jon C. & Gonzalez, Gabe & Harris, Michael L. & Morrow, Grayson & Philli, 2023. "Exploring objective versus subjective social ties using entrepreneurs’ gmail data," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(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. Joern Block & Christopher Hansen & Holger Steinmetz, 2023. "Are Family Firms Doing More Innovation Output With Less Innovation Input? A Replication and Extension," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1496-1520, July.
    2. Christopher J. Boudreaux & Daniel L. Bennett & David S. Lucas & Boris N. Nikolaev, 2023. "Taking mental models seriously: institutions, entrepreneurship, and the mediating role of socio-cognitive traits," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 465-493, August.
    3. H. Latan & C.J. Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & M. Ali, 2023. "Crossing the Red Line? Empirical Evidence and Useful Recommendations on Questionable Research Practices among Business Scholars," Post-Print hal-04276024, HAL.
    4. Krukowski, Kipp A. & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Rutherford, Matthew W., 2023. "Winning the opportunity to pitch: Piquing startup investors’ interest by sending the right signals in executive summaries," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 75-86.
    5. Romi Kher & Shu Yang & Scott L. Newbert, 2023. "Accelerating emergence: the causal (but contextual) effect of social impact accelerators on nascent for-profit social ventures," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 389-413, June.
    6. Jasper Brinkerink, 2023. "When Shooting for the Stars Becomes Aiming for Asterisks: P-Hacking in Family Business Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 304-343, March.
    7. Liu, Yu & Maula, Markku, 2021. "Contextual status effects: The performance effects of host-country network status and regulatory institutions in cross-border venture capital," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(5).
    8. G. Christopher Crawford & Vitaliy Skorodziyevskiy & Casey J. Frid & Thomas E. Nelson & Zahra Booyavi & Diana M. Hechavarria & Xuanye Li & Paul D. Reynolds & Ehsan Teymourian, 2022. "Advancing Entrepreneurship Theory Through Replication: A Case Study on Contemporary Methodological Challenges, Future Best Practices, and an Entreaty for Communality," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 779-799, May.
    9. Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2021. "Education and migrant entrepreneurship in urban China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 506-529.
    10. Lorenz Graf-Vlachy, 2022. "Is the readability of abstracts decreasing in management research?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1063-1084, May.
    11. Chen, Jean Jinghan & Cui, Chuantao & Hunt, Richard A. & Li, Leona Shao-Zhi, 2020. "External enablement of new venture creation: An exploratory, query-driven assessment of China's high-speed rail expansion," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(6).
    12. Lundmark, Erik & Milanov, Hana & Seigner, Benedikt David Christian, 2022. "Can it be measured? A quantitative assessment of critiques of the entrepreneurship literature," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    13. Markku Maula & Wouter Stam, 2020. "Enhancing Rigor in Quantitative Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(6), pages 1059-1090, November.
    14. Lucas, David S. & Park, U. David, 2023. "The nature and origins of social venture mission: An exploratory study of political ideology and moral foundations," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    15. Daniel L. Bennett & Christopher Boudreaux & Boris Nikolaev, 2023. "Populist discourse and entrepreneurship: The role of political ideology and institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(1), pages 151-181, February.
    16. Christopher J. Boudreaux & Anand Jha & Monica Escaleras, 2023. "Natural disasters, entrepreneurship activity, and the moderating role of country governance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1483-1508, April.
    17. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Murad Ali, 2023. "Crossing the Red Line? Empirical Evidence and Useful Recommendations on Questionable Research Practices among Business Scholars," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 549-569, May.
    18. Jeni L. Burnette & Jeffrey M. Pollack & Rachel B. Forsyth & Crystal L. Hoyt & Alexandra D. Babij & Fanice N. Thomas & Anthony E. Coy, 2020. "A Growth Mindset Intervention: Enhancing Students’ Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Career Development," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(5), pages 878-908, September.
    19. Alexander Nanni, 2021. "Educational Entrepreneurship in an Intensive English Program in Thailand: A Case Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, March.
    20. Boudreaux, Christopher & Jha, Anand & Escaleras, Monica, 2022. "Natural Disasters and Entrepreneurship Activity: the Moderating Role of Country Governance," MPRA Paper 115134, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:eee:jobuve:v:16:y:2021:i:c:s2352673421000652. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-business-venturing-insights .

    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.