Icarus Paradox: the interplay between entrepreneurial cognition and internal stakeholder perception.

This thesis focuses on how entrepreneurial cognition interacts with internal stakeholder perception in established entrepreneurial organizations. In addition, the influence of interdependent factors of cognitive biases, temporality, growth and performance on the interaction has been examined. The study is exploratory, phenomenological and framed within an interpretive research paradigm. Primary data was gathered using a qualitative multiple case study methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted every three months over an eighteen-month period with entrepreneurs and internal stakeholders of nine organizations in Phase I and three organizations in Phase II. This research is original because it focuses exclusively on the interaction between concepts of entrepreneurial cognition and biases, temporality, internal stakeholder perception, organizational factors, growth and performance for established entrepreneurial organizations. The empirical evidence highlights that cognitive diversity and differences in perception and expectations have an impact on entrepreneurial and internal stakeholder interrelationships in established entrepreneurial organizations. Furthermore, entrepreneurial decision-making leads to the Icarus Paradox of confidence-success-attribution cycle that either moderates or mediates organizational growth and performance. The consequence of longer communication chains is limited information flow that results in cognitive dissonance. The research contributes to closing the gap in literature on the interdependent nature of entrepreneurial cognition and internal stakeholder perception on organizational growth and performance. The contribution to practice therefore is that in established entrepreneurial organizations the entrepreneurs and internal stakeholders can focus on performance by understanding the cause and effect influence of their interactions. This sets the foundation for further research on the interaction between entrepreneurial cognition and other organizational concepts.