Title: How expat-preneurs make decisions - the role of intuition

Authors: Nicole A. Yeung; Marta Sinclair

Addresses: Department of Business Strategy and Innovation, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia ' Department of Business Strategy and Innovation, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

Abstract: Expatriate entrepreneurs (expat-preneurs) are a group of unique people who voluntarily move countries and benefit from entrepreneurial activities. Despite the growing volume of literature dedicated to conceptualising expat-preneurs, little attention has been dedicated to understanding their decision-making patterns. The purpose of this paper is to establish a preliminary view of how expat-preneurs make decisions with a particular emphasis on intuitive decision-making. The exploratory case study used an inductive approach by analysing qualitative interview data from expat-preneurs working in Hong Kong. The findings demonstrated that expat-preneurs frequently use intuition, sometimes in combination with analytical decision-making and revealed more fine-grained insights into how both styles interact. Specifically, data identified that expat-preneurial decision-making processes are predicated on contextual factors such as time dichotomy, decision-making maturity, decision magnitude, intuitive sensing and external stimulus. This study is the first attempt to explore expat-preneurial decision-making processes at the intersection of entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship and intuition decision-making literature. Based on the findings, the occurrence of 'slow' and 'fast' intuition was identified and their relationships with expert and creative intuition were examined. As a result, it is proposed that entrepreneurial intuition is regarded as a form of professional context rather than a type of intuition.

Keywords: intuition; decision-making; expat-preneurs; types of intuition; international entrepreneurship.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMDM.2025.145930

International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 2025 Vol.24 No.3, pp.288 - 314

Received: 01 Aug 2023
Accepted: 07 Apr 2024
Published online: 30 Apr 2025 *

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