Title: Narratives of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Cambodia and Its Impact on Entrepreneur’s Decision-Making Logic Authors: Mostafa Rezayi and Pisey Vuthy Level: Master Thesis, 30 hp Background: Entrepreneurial activities are impacted by various elements in an entrepreneurship ecosystem (EE). The interplay of such factors produces narratives that display the condition of EEs. Moreover, ecosystem narratives (EN) have significant impacts on the advancement of EEs and can determine entrepreneurs' decisions in establishing and expanding new ventures. Entrepreneurs in environments with fast and continual changes use either effectual or casual logic to make decisions based on various factors such as uncertainty, culture, and resource availability. The impact of EN on the decision-making logic of entrepreneurs has been investigated in supportive and developed EEs, such research, however, has not been undertaken in less developed EEs. Considering that EEs operate differently due to the differences in their elements, this study aims to identify ENs and investigate their impacts on entrepreneurs’ decision-making logic in Cambodian EE, which is less developed than the regional and global competitors. Research questions: What are the narratives of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cambodia? How do narratives of the entrepreneurial ecosystem hinder or encourage effectuation and causation in Cambodian entrepreneurs? Purpose: This study aims to (1) identify the narratives of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cambodia and (2) explain how the narratives affect entrepreneurs’ decision-making logic, whether it leads to effectuation or causation.Theoretical framework: Articles used for this thesis were meticulously chosen, focusing on reliable sources and quality content that cover the theoretical background of EE, EN, and effectuation and causation. This chapter included theories and findings on EEs and their main elements, which formed the basis of the interview guide and themes used to analyze the collected data. Further, information about the causes and effects of narratives in EEs was provided. Lastly, the concepts of causation and effectuation were discussed following the elements in the EE. Method: This study adopted the interpretive approach to creating new, richer understandings and interpretations of issues related to the impacts of narratives on the decision-making logic of entrepreneurs. The Cambodian EE is studied as a case to obtain detailed data and answer the research questions. A qualitative method was implemented to conduct ENs, and adequate data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 key actors in the EE. The gathered data were analyzed through a thematic narrative analysis method. Lastly, this paper followed an abductive reasoning approach. Findings: The common narratives within the Cambodian EE were identified through 12 semi-structured interviews with Cambodian entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, and business incubators. The identified narratives illuminated that Cambodian entrepreneurs rely more on the effectual logic than the casual one to establish and expand their firms. This is due to narratives about, for instance, poor developed physical infrastructure, lack of essential resources, low social and moral support, and underdeveloped training and education system. Originality/Value: This is the first research investigating the impact of common narratives in a nascent and underdeveloped EE on entrepreneurs’ decision-making logic. Keywords: Entrepreneurial ecosystem, Ecosystem narratives, Decision-making logic, Effectuation, Causation.

The mass-migration of refugees in the fall 2015 posed an immense humanitarian and logistical challenge: exhausted from their week-long journeys, refugees arrived in Vienna in need of care, shelter, food, medical aid, and onward transport. The refugee crisis was managed by an emerging polycentric and inter-sectoral collective of organizations. In this paper, we investigate how, during such a situation, leaders of these organizations made decisions in concert with each other and hence sustained the collective's capacity to act collectively. We ask: what was the logic of decision-making that orchestrated collective action during the crisis? In answering this question, we make the following contribution: departing from March's logics of consequences and appropriateness as well as Weick's work on sensemaking during crisis, we introduce an alternative logic that informed decision-making: the logic of tact. With this concept we (a) offer a better understanding of how managers make decisions under the condition of bounded rationality and the simultaneous transgression of their institutional identity in situations of crisis; and we (b) show that in decision-making under duress cognition is neither ahead of action, nor is action ahead of cognition; rather, tact explicates the rapid switching between cognition and action, orchestrating decision-making through this interplay.

Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich der Darstellung des Kunstmarktgeschehens und der Entscheidungsfindung von Galeristen. Ziel ist es aufzuzeigen, welche Auswirkungen Erfahrung und Expertise sowie ein begrenzter Informationszugang auf die angewandte Entscheidungslogik und das Entscheidungsverhalten von Galeristen haben. Sie behandelt die Thematik der kausalen und effektualen Entscheidungslogik und der unterschiedlichen Entscheidungsansätze von Novizen und Experten. Gemäß Sarasvathy (2001) tendieren Novizen zu kausaler und Experten zur effektualer Logik. Sie unterscheiden sich durch ihren Grad an Expertise, welche auf Deliberate Practice, Erfahrung und kontinuierlich erbrachter überragender Leistungserbringung basiert (Ericsson 2006; Mitchell et al. 2005:3, Dew et al. 2009: 289). Gegenstand der Untersuchung war die Beantwortung der Fragen, ob sich die Berufserfahrung, das Geschlecht und der akademische Werdegang des Galeristen auf die angewandte Entscheidungslogik auswirken. Die Ergebnisse belegen, dass die Berufserfahrung einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die angewandte Entscheidungslogik der Galeristen hat: Novizen-Galeristen präferieren die kausale Entscheidungslogik, Experten-Galeristen die effektuale. In Bezug auf das Geschlecht ist nachweisbar, dass Galeristinnen am häufigsten die kausale Entscheidungslogik anwenden. Dasselbe Bild stellt sich bei Galeristen – ungeachtet ihres Geschlechts – ohne akademische Ausbildung ein. Die Arbeit setzt zudem ihren Fokus auf die experimentelle Untersuchung des Preisbildungsverfahrens durch Galeristen, wobei insbesondere der etwaige Einfluss der Overconfidence im Mittelpunkt steht. Die Studienergebnisse lassen darauf schließen, dass ein signifikantes Maß an Overconfidence dazu führt, dass die Preise für Kunstwerke niedriger gesetzt werden. Zudem konnte ein Wissenseffekt festgestellt werden: Je versierter ein Galerist im Kunstmarkt ist, desto höher setzt er den Preis für ein als „ausstellungswürdig" deklariertes Kunstwerk. / The objective of this dissertation is to shed more light on the primary art market and the decision-making processes of its protagonists, the gallery owners. The doctoral thesis focuses on the potential impact of experience and expertise on the gallerists‘ applied decision-making logic and the consequences of limited access to information for the gallery owners‘ decision-making behaviour. In particular, the distinction between novices and experts and their decision-making is addressed. According to Sarasvathy (2001), novices tend to use a predictive decision-making logic (causation), whereas experts apply a non-predictive logic (effectuation). They differ in their level of expertise, which is based on deliberate practice, experience and continuous outstanding and superior performance in a particular domain (Ericsson 2006; Mitchell et al. 2005:3, Dew et al. 2009: 289). The studies conducted examined whether the professional experience, gender and academic career of the gallery owner affects the applied decision-making logic. The results show that professional experience has a significant influence on the applied decision-making logic of the gallery owner: novice-gallerists prefer the causal approach, expert gallery owners favour the effectual decision-making logic. With regard to gender and the academic career, it can be proven that female gallery owners and gallerists without academic training most often apply the causal decision-making logic. This dissertation also focuses on the experimental analysis of the influence and impact of overconfidence on the price setting processes of gallery owners. The results indicate that a significant level of overconfidence leads to lower prices for works of art. In addition, a knowledge effect could be observed: the more sophisticated the gallery owners are, the higher will be the price they set for an art work they consider to be suitable for an exhibition.