Heuristics and Biases in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Some New Insights

Current paper advances the body of knowledge on entrepreneurial heuristics and biases and also entrepreneurial marketing. After screening the existing body of knowledge on heuristics and biases as well as marketing in the field of entrepreneurship, we propose that some exceptionally important heuristics and biases in entrepreneurs’ decisions could impact entrepreneurial marketing as well. In order to make decisions, entrepreneurs need to cope with novelty, uncertainty, ambiguity and high time pressure. These factors, combined with specific entrepreneurial cognitive characteristics make entrepreneur’s decision prone to heuristics and biases. This is more severe in case of novice entrepreneurs who do not possess necessary decision making styles. Because of not having necessary business experience, novice entrepreneurs face more uncertainty and complexity in their decisions. Thus, they become more susceptible to heuristics and biases. Though heuristics and biases have been studied adequately in lots of entrepreneurship-related decisions, they have been mostly and surprisingly ignored in the field of entrepreneurial marketing. Novice entrepreneurs face increasing rivalry and severe competition while having little resources and being prone to information overload or high time pressure. These factors make novice entrepreneurs even more susceptible to heuristics and biases in their marketing decisions. Though the bulk of research on entrepreneurial heuristics and biases seems to be satisfactory, we argue that there are some important, neglected areas in this regard. According to our propositions developed in this study, some very influential heuristics and biases impact entrepreneurial marketing.