06/04/2025
By Kanan Asif

Manning School of Business, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation invites you to attend the doctoral dissertation defense by Kanan Asif titled, "Persist, Perish, Pivot ... or Preserve: An Individual-Opportunity Fit Approach to Entrepreneurial Decision-Making."

Date: June 19, 2025
Time: 1 to 3 p.m.
Location: Pulichino Tong Business Center, Room 462 and via Zoom
Passcode: 655795

Committee:

  • Michael Ciuchta, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Lowell (Committee Co-chair)
  • Ann Kronrod, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Lowell (Committee Co-chair)
  • M. Berk Talay, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Lowell (Committee Co-chair)
  • Regan Stevenson, Ph.D., Associate Professor ​of Entrepreneurship & Management, Indiana University Bloomington

Abstract:

Entrepreneurs pursue and persist with opportunities based on their belief that they can successfully exploit them (opportunity feasibility) and that such exploitation can result in the fulfillment of their desires (opportunity desirability). However, existing research does not identify what entrepreneurs do when beliefs about currently pursued opportunities are updated, and hence, an opportunity is perceived as feasible but no longer desirable, or desirable but no longer feasible. Furthermore, existing research predominantly categorizes such decisions as a choice between persisting or pivoting, or otherwise persisting or perishing (opportunity termination), remaining oblivious to another possibility. In contrast, in current research, I introduce the notion of opportunity preservation and posit that, beyond persisting, pivoting, or perishing, entrepreneurs often choose to temporarily preserve opportunities and pursue these opportunities again in the future when faced with challenges or alternative opportunities.

Building on the notion of opportunity preservation, I integrate dormancy theory and person-environment fit theory and develop a 2x2 decision-making matrix. This framework predicts entrepreneurs' decisions to persist, pivot, perish, or preserve opportunities based on entrepreneurs’ perceived fit with their opportunities. I tested this decision-making framework using a mixed-design comprising a survey with 410 entrepreneurs, an experiment with 300 entrepreneurs (1200 decisions), and 18 interviews with entrepreneurs about their pool of 66 opportunities. The results yield support for my conceptualization of opportunity preservation as well as the 2x2 decision-making framework proposed. Hence, current research makes important theoretical contributions by introducing opportunity preservation as a means of subsequent reanimation of abandoned promising opportunities. Furthermore, the 2x2 decision-making framework offers a more nuanced understanding of entrepreneurial decision-making, thereby integrating and predicting these decisions using a unified framework. Current research also makes some important contributions to literature on entrepreneurial opportunities, pivot, person-environment fit theory and dormancy theory. Practical implications for entrepreneurs, trainers, and mentors are offered.