Brain for Business

The psychology of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship is a fascinating area. Let’s face it – it can sometimes seem completely bizarre that someone might leave a possibly well-paid and secure job in order to follow their entrepreneurial dream. Yet this is exactly what some people do, despite all the risks and challenges involved.So what is the “psychology of entrepreneurship”? And what is it that makes entrepreneurs so unique?About our guest…Ute Stephan is Professor of Entrepreneurship at King’s Business School, King’s College London, a Fellow of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) and a 21st Century Entrepreneurship Fellow. She serves as Associate Editor at the Journal of Management and at Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. From 2015-2019 she was Editor-in-Chief of Applied Psychology: An International Review and from 2019-2022 Consulting Editor at the Journal of International Business Studies.As an expert on the Psychology of Entrepreneurship, Ute explores how individuals and societies can thrive through entrepreneurship. Ute’s research builds evidence on how contexts (culture and institutions) shape entrepreneurship and well-being, and how entrepreneurship, in turn, can help to build more inclusive societies.You can find out more about Ute’s research here: https://sites.google.com/site/stephanute/home Some relevant articles co-authored by Ute on the psychology of entrepreneurship are as follows:Gorgievski, M. J., & Stephan, U. (2016). Advancing the psychology of entrepreneurship: A review of the psychological literature and an introduction. Applied Psychology, 65(3), 437-468.-      https://publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/28176/1/Advancing_the_psychology_of_entrepreneurship.pdf Gorgievski, M. J., Stephan, U., Laguna, M., & Moriano, J. A. (2018). Predicting entrepreneurial career intentions: Values and the theory of planned behavior. Journal of career assessment, 26(3), 457-475.-      https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1069072717714541 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While we have previously explored the question of narcissism and the dark triad of personality traits on the Brain for Business podcast, the question of how narcissistic leaders impact on overall organisational performance is something we are yet to consider in great detail. Yet this is exactly what our guests today, Professor Thanos Verousis of Vlerick Business School and Professor Pietro Perotti of the University of Bath, examine in a recent paper co-authored with Shee-Yee Khoo of Bangor Business School and Richard Watermeyer of the University of Bristol. To do this they  examine the narcissism of university vice chancellors in the context of the overall performance of their universities. While this might perhaps seem a little obscure to those outside academia, Vice Chancellors are ultimately the CEOs of large and complex organisations and the transferrable insights are many.Key findings include:The appointment of a highly narcissistic VC leads to an overall deterioration in research and teaching performance and concomitantly league table performanceKey potential mechanisms explaining this include excessive financial risk taking and empire-buildingThe findings are consistent with the view that narcissism is one of the most prominent traits of destructive leadershipThere are practical implications for leadership recruitment and the monitoring of leadership practices in the higher education sector The article discussed - Vice-chancellor narcissism and university performance – can be accessed here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733323001853 About our guests…Thanos Verousis is a Professor in Sustainable Finance at Vlerick Business School, Associate Editor at the Journal of Futures Markets and the European Journal of Finance. In his research he is particularly interested in understanding behavioural biases and decision-making in finance, especially with respect to departures from the classical rational expectations theory. Thanos also works on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in finance, especially in applications involving machine learning and robo-advising.  You can find out more about Thanos’s research here: https://sites.google.com/site/thanosverousis/Pietro Perotti is a Senior Lecturer, or Associate Professor, at the University of Bath. Pietro researches the capital market consequences of accounting information, financial reporting quality and market microstructure. Pietro’s research has been published in a range of leading journals including Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. Research Policy, Journal of Accounting Literature, Journal of Empirical Finance and Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting.You can find out more about Pietro’s research here: https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/pietro-perotti Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big 5 Model of Personality is perhaps the most consistently reliable model of personality used in research around the world. Focusing on the key elements of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience and extraversion, the Big 5 model has been applied to evaluate personality traits in my contexts including not least leadership. A recent paper – co-authored by our guest today on Brain for Business – Dr Fabian Braesemann – considered the Big 5 traits most commonly found in entrepreneurs and founders, assessing amongst other things what are the personality characteristics of typical of founders and how they contribute to start-up success.About our guest…Dr Fabian Braesemann is a Departmental Research Lecturer in AI & Work at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford.Fabian’s research focuses on the Science of Success. He uses data science methods to quantify the determinants of success in different fields:1. The Science of Success in Business2. Success and the Future of Work, and 3. Quantifying success online and offlineBefore Fabian started to work as a Departmental Research Lecturer at the OII, he worked as a Research Fellow & Data Scientist in the Future of Real Estate Initiative at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and as a Data Scientist at the OII on projects that applied data science to understand human development and labour markets The article co-authored by Fabian is available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-41980-yThe 2019 Nature article discussed in the podcast (“Quantifying the dynamics of failure across science, startups and security” by Yin et al.) is available here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1903.07562.pdfYou can find out more about Fabian via his Linkedin page (https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabian-braesemann-210645138/_ or else via the OII website (https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/fabian-braesemann/) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In times of great turmoil and uncertainty radicalisation can emerge as a real challenge. Yet what is it that really drives radicalisation and how can we better support de-radicalisation?Given the events of recent months around the world, we felt it timely to re-issue of Brain for Business Episode 22 of Series 1 which was an interview with internationally recognised expert in radicalisation and de-radicalisation, Robert Örell.Based in Stockholm, Robert Örell is an internationally sought-after trainer, speaker, workshop facilitator and expert in the field of radicalisation, disengagement, and intervention.Robert Örell has two decades of experience in the field of disengagement and exit work and has led Exit programs in Sweden and in the USA.Since 2011, Robert has been a member of the Steering Committee of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) and he currently works as an independent expert, consultant, and trainer in the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism field. His recent work focuses on setting up exit programs, online counseling in exit work, and advising on policy guidelines and recommendations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years it has become commonplace for organisations of all types to loudly proclaim their values and purpose, and encourage their employees to align and identify with them. Yet what does it mean for people to identify with their employer or organisation? And why does it really matter? Surely it is enough for people to turn up for work, do their job diligently and then get on with their lives?To explore the concept of Organisational Identification further it is an absolute pleasure to be joined on the Brain for Business podcast by Professor Chia-Huei Wu.About Chia-Huei...Chia-Huei Wu is a Professor in Management at King's Business School, London. Chia-Huei’s research in organizational behaviour concerns the person–environment dynamics and has two research streams: Employee Proactivity (i.e., why, when, and how employees can use their proactivity to change and improve the work environment) and Work and Personality Development (i.e., whether and how work experiences shape one’s personality development). Building on these two research streams, he has investigated topics in innovation and voice, leadership, work design, career development, workplace wellbeing, job change, and overqualification.Chia-Huei has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters and his work has appeared in top-tier journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Personnel Psychology, Human Resource Management, and Human Resource Management Journal, among others.Chia-Huei is the author of the book, Employee proactivity in organizations, a co-author of the book, Work and Personality Change, and the co-editor of the book, Emotion and Proactivity at Work. He has also contributed chapters to a range of other books on these topics. The article discussed in the interview is available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01492063221140049More information about Chia-Huei's research is available through either of these sites:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chia-huei-wu-b7b3b21b/Google: https://sites.google.com/view/cwu-proactivepsy/c-wu Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The question of psychopathy and psychopaths in the workplace is something that we have discussed before on the Brain for Business podcast. Yet it remains a fascinating and worthwhile topic, most particularly when considered in terms of power and leadership outcomes.To explore this further I am delighted to be joined by Dr Iris Kranefeld where we discuss a recent paper published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.Key highlights include:Position power acts as a trait-relevant cue for psychopathy in leaders.When power is high, psychopathic meanness negatively relates to team performance.Under high power, team performance mediates the relation of meanness and effectiveness.The article discussed in the podcast is available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886922004214About IrisIris is a graduate of University of Bonn from where she has a PhD in work and organisational psychology. Since July 2023, Iris has been a senior consultant with the Cologne Institute for Management Consulting / Kölner Institut für Managementberatung in Germany. A key focus of Iris’ research is the “dark triad” of personality traits, most particularly psychopathy and how it plays out in the workplace.You can find out more about Iris’ work at these sites:Researchgate - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Iris-Kranefeld-2LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/iris-kranefeld/?locale=en_USCologne Institute of Management Consulting - https://www.ki-management.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Scandals regularly sweep through organizational fields: they wreak havoc in markets, vaporize billions of dollars in firm value, bring down giant corporations, get CEOs fired, alter the evolution of technologies, and trigger major changes in society. In spite of their significance for organizational life, scandals have received remarkably limited attention in management research.” So says our guest today on the Brain for Business podcast, Professor Julien Jourdan, who attempts to address this gap in the literature by building on the social sciences’ sparse but growing stream of research on scandals to provide new insights and understandings. Julien Jourdan is an Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources at HEC Paris. Julien’s research focuses on reputation, legitimacy, and other social evaluations of organizations. In so doing, he examines how a) stakeholders evaluate organizations in institutionally complex environments and b) how these evaluations shape organizational conduct, governance, strategy, and performance. Julien has previously held academic positions at Imperial College London, Università Bocconi, and PSL-Paris Dauphine, and before moving into academia was a finance executive at a major film studio.The article referred to in the podcast is available here: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/7x2rb/downloadMore information on Julien and his research is available here: https://sites.google.com/site/julienjourdan/https://www.hec.edu/en/faculty-research/faculty-directory/faculty-member/jourdan-julien Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“The question of whether we have free will does not have a yes-or-no, all-or-none answer. Instead, we have degrees of freedom – an idea that is reasonably well captured… by a more commonsense understanding of the (still useful) notion of free will. That understanding entails, first, the ability to make choices – that we really can choose what to do. Our actions are not simply determined by outside forces because we’re causally set apart from the rest of the universe to at least some degree. And, just as importantly, we are not driven by our own parts. Rather, we holistically – our selves – are in charge.” So says our guest today on the Brain for Business podcast, Dr Kevin Mitchell, of Trinity College Dublin. Kevin takes an evolutionary approach to the question of free will and amongst other things argues that: Humans have agency and the capacity of self-control – we have the ability to adjust our focus and behaviour in real time depending on what is happening around usWhile genes do influence our behaviour, this is not a direct or deterministic relationship and there are many factors that impact on our innate natures and behavioursThese factors include learning and experience, as well as the important and largely positive role played by constraints, including the basic need for a survival as well as social rules, norms and culture   About Kevin…Dr Kevin Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. Kevin’s research is aimed at understanding the genetic program specifying the wiring of the brain and its relevance to variation in human faculties, especially to psychiatric and neurological disease and to perceptual conditions like synaesthesia. As part of his research, Kevin also studies the biology of agency and free will. Kevin is an active communicator on Twitter and writes a popular blog on the intersection of genetics, development, neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry. He also regularly gives public lectures and media interviews on diverse topics, with the goal of promoting public understanding of neuroscience and genetics. His 2018 book "Innate; How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are", published by Princeton University Press, develops an integrative conceptual framework in which to consider the origins of variation in human faculties, through a novel synthesis of findings from behavioural genetics, developmental neurobiology, neuroscience and psychology. Kevin’s most recent book – Free agents: How evolution gave us free will – is published on 3rd October, 2023, but Princeton University Press. You can find more about Kevin’s work at his website – www.kjmitchell.com – at his blog - (http://www.wiringthebrain.com – and by following him on Twitter: @WiringtheBrain.Kevin’s latest book, Free agents: How evolution gave us free will, is available on Amazon (https://amzn.eu/d/7Qkafwv) as well as all good bookstores. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While accurate data is hard to come by, some sources claim that up 90% of starts up fail.  There can be many reasons for this including but not limited to the product or service not meeting market needs, the business model being flawed, or early-stage funding not materialising.  One potential issue not often discussed is the impact of employee commitment and the extent to which those working for startups are prepared to put in the discretionary effort sometimes needed to get the startup over those critical early-stage challenges, something which is apparently experienced to a much greater extent by female founders when compared to their male peers. To discuss this I am delighted to be joined on the Brain for Business podcast by Professor Olenka Kacperczyk of London Business School.Amongst other things Olenka argues that: Women face well-documented obstacles when looking to found startups Research has consistently revealed patterns of inequity in the sharing of venture capital, but reasons for the performance gap between male and female-led startups are unclear A key factor may be that people generally are significantly less motivated to work for women than they are for men To address this, it is vital that educators and others intensify efforts to promote awareness of often-unconscious discriminatory behaviours to address bias against female bosses  About Olenka Olenka Kacperczyk is a Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. She received her PhD from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and prior to joining London Business School, Olenka held a faculty position at the Sloan School of Management at MIT.  Olenka’s research focuses on entrepreneurship and examines (a) why individuals sometimes give up their jobs and become entrepreneurs and (b) how people’s movements into entrepreneurship affect social inequality, workplace segregation, and income distribution.   Olenka currently serves as an Associate Editor at Administrative Science Quarterly. She has previously served as an Associate Editor at Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Management Science. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Kauffman Junior Faculty Scholarship for Entrepreneurship Research and the William F. Glueck Award at the Academy of Management. Olenka teaches topics related to entrepreneurial strategy and strategic management in established firms.  The paper discussed - Do Employees Work Less for Female Leaders? A Multi-Method Study of Entrepreneurial Firms - is available online https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2022.1611   You can find out more about Olenka’s research here: https://www.olenkak.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Internationally, healthy adults are consistently falling below national and international recommendations for physical activity and failing to meet guidelines for dietary intake. Interventions to address behaviour change in these fields typically target clinically at-risk individuals, yet these do not always work and obesity levels in developed countries continue to rise with significant implications for both individuals and societies. So what then are some of the barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exercise, and how can we as societies help people to sustain positive physical activity and healthy eating behaviour change?To explore this I am delighted to be joined by Dr Sarah Snuggs of the University of Reading.Drawing on a novel online community health programme and survey, recent research undertaken by Sarah and colleagues (https://psyarxiv.com/pq4bs/) across five countries found that:-Key motivators for positive health behaviours include enjoyment of health behaviours, positive emotions before and after activities, and clear reward structures-Barriers included difficulties with habit-breaking, giving in to temptation and negative affective states, i.e. a bad mood!-Changes in physical activity and eating behaviour were mutually supportive-Those with a high BMI placed more importance on social motivators (e.g. social pressure) than those with healthy BMISarah and colleagues consequently concluded interventions to support adults who are not chronically ill but who would benefit from improved diet and/or increased physical activity should not focus exclusively on health as a motivating factor. Emphasis on enjoyable behaviours, social engagement and the role of reward will likely improve engagement and sustained behaviour change. About Sarah…Dr Sarah Snuggs is a Chartered Health Psychologist and Lecturer in the School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences at the University of Reading. Her research interests include children and family eating behaviours and other health behaviours.You can find out more about Sarah’s work and research at these sites:-https://research.reading.ac.uk/kids-food-choices/ -Twitter: @sarah_snuggs-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/familyfoodin5/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.