Insung Hwang's First Academic Publication Set to Appear in Top-Tier Journal

A new study by Turner College MISM professor Insung Hwang and Lehigh University's Andreea Kiss, Naomi Rothman and Willy Das investigates the effects of entrepreneurial subjective ambivalence on a form of adaptive action referred to as venture idea revision. Building on the affect-as-information perspective, Hwang and his co-authors propose that entrepreneurial subjective ambivalence will increase venture idea revision by increasing information search behaviors. The results of a longitudinal, repeated-measures field study based on 175 entrepreneurs in a top incubator program demonstrate that when entrepreneurs experience higher subjective ambivalence (compared to lower ambivalence) in response to mentor feedback about their new ventures, they engage in higher levels of venture idea revision. Hwang et al. theorize and find that this increase in venture idea revision arises because subjective ambivalence is positively associated with more intense and broader information search behaviors. Lastly, the study, set to appear in a future issue of the Journal of Management, discusses implications of their findings for research on affect in entrepreneurial decision-making, creative revision, and ambivalence in organizations, as well as for formal entrepreneurial mentoring programs. This publication is a major accomplishment for Hwang, who is only a few years into his academic career. This particular journal is rated as an A+ journal in business by the Australian Business Deans Council and other rating services.