Hacking Culture: Does Entrepreneurship Training Make Entrepreneurs Better Cultural Operators?

The literature suggest that entrepreneurship training is an important means through which entrepreneurs learn to develop narratives of their ideas that can elicit appreciation from external evaluative audiences. However, available studies do not consider how different approaches to idea development and validation entrepreneurs can be exposed to during training can shape the ways they narratively construct their ideas, and, by consequence, how external audiences will perceive those ideas. In this study, I address this issue by analyzing the evaluations of written descriptions of new business ideas submitted by 231 firms that participated in a field experiment embedded into a 4-months training program for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, during which participants received training according to different approaches. The results show support for the idea that firms who are trained to think according to a scientific approach to idea validation develop narratives that elicit more positive evaluations from external evaluative audiences compared to other approaches. I elaborate on the mechanisms behind these results and discuss the implications for current and future research.