Katharina Fellnhofer receives Marie Curie Fellowship
Dr Katharina Fellnhofer (D-MTEC) has been awarded the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship, which is funded by the European Commission and hosted by ETH Zurich and Harvard University. Her fellowship research initiative “Roller-Coaster” investigates entrepreneurs’ and venture capitalists’ entrepreneurial intuition in the course of financial decision-making.
Despite the growing number of female-led firms in Europe[1], female-led entrepreneurial ventures have to go the extra mile when it comes to access to financing compared to their male counterparts.[2] Referring to dual-process theories[3] given the complex and uncertain nature of the entrepreneurial enterprise, it is hypothesized that decision-making related to entrepreneurial finance is significantly affected by intuition.
But how does intuition influence investment decision-making? How does it affect the profit and growth rates of female versus male ventures, as well as access to financing? Dr Katharina Fellnhofer of the Chair of Entrepreneurial Risks at D-MTEC is currently addressing these questions in her external pageRoller-Coaster project.
Why does intuition matter?
Increasing our understanding of how intuition affects our decisions will alert us to certain drivers of success in rapid decision-making. “We tend to underestimate the positive potential of our intuition, in particular in situations of complexity and uncertainty. Once aware of these drivers, we will be able to improve rapid decision-making,” states Fellnhofer. “Financing innovative ideas is certainly challenging for male entrepreneurs and financiers, but it is generally even harder for women. Unravelling the nature of the interrelationship between intuitive (reflexive) and analytical (reflective) decision-making processes in more detail will support tomorrow’s leaders – in particular women, an underexploited source of economic growth and jobs – in using their intuition to make faster, more accurate and more confident decisions in uncertain and complex situations. Due to COVID-19, most of us now know how such situations feel.”
References
[1] Elam, A. B., Brush, C. G., Greene, P. G., Baumer, B., Dean, M., Heavlow, R. 2019. external pageGlobal Entrepreneurship Monitor - Report on women’s entrepreneurship. Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, London Business School, UK.
[2] Eddleston, K. A., Ladge, J. J., Mitteness, C., & Balachandra, L. 2016. Do you see what I see? Signaling effects of gender and firm characteristics on financing entrepreneurial ventures. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 40(3), 489–514.
[3] Hodgkinson, G. P., & Sadler-Smith, E. 2018. The dynamics of intuition and analysis in managerial and organizational decision making. Academy of Management Perspectives, 32(4), 473–492.
About Katharina Fellnhofer
Before joining ETH Zurich, Dr Katharina Fellnhofer gained extensive international entrepreneurial leadership experience and achieved impressive academic successes, financed by self-acquired research project funding of over € 9 million. She is an author of more than 35 peer-reviewed journal articles on entrepreneurship and a long-time advisor to the European Commission and several governments. Katharina Fellnhofer is the first Marie Curie Fellow at D-MTEC in more than ten years.