THE ROLE OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK IN THE PROCESS OF OPPORTUNITY EXPLOITATION

This study examines how negative feedback during opportunity exploitation influences the attributes and innovativeness of new products, and how these changes affect performance. In our study of 130 pre-venture clients from Small Business Development Centers, we find negative feedback positively affects the extent of product change, with additional influence when entrepreneurs are high in entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Idea ownership and the initial newness of the product do not increase the effect of negative feedback on product change. Additionally, the extent of attribute changes significantly increases the performance of the launched product. We find no support for negative feedback influencing the innovativeness of the product.