Exploring the Antecedents and Consequences of Illusion of Control in Entrepreneurs

Decision making is one of the most important entrepreneurial functions achieving business goals and addressing issues. Because of some specific cognitive characteristics on one hand as well as such factors like complexity information overload time pressure and uncertainty on the other hand, entrepreneurs are prone to decision making biases in most of their decisions. Illusion of control is one of the most important entrepreneurial decision making biases that have main effects on entrepreneurial businesses. The purpose of this study was to identify both the most important factors influencing illusion of control as well as its consequences on entrepreneurial decisions. According to the results, which were collected through semi-structured interviews with established high-tech knowledge entrepreneurs in the city of Tehran and analyzed by qualitative content analysis method, three factors of experience, high optimism, and self-confidence were the most influential factors in controlling risk factors. Sufficient and underestimation of competitors are consequences of the illusion of control over the decisions of entrepreneurs.