8 January 2019,Professor Xiao Li from Lancaster University Management School was invited for Academic Communications in CUFE Business School.Professor Xiaodelivered a keynote speech on the topic of “Individual decision-making andangel group investing: the interaction of social and economics-based evaluationcriteria”.

In the previousresearch regarding VC, scholars mostly took the team or the individuals as theresearch objects to explore the angel investment behavior, but ignored theindividual decision-making process in the team. To fill up this gap, ProfessorXiao did research on how the interaction of social and economic evaluationcriteria played the role in the individual decision making of angel investment.Based on the data analysis results of two case studies and 44 face-to-faceinterviews with future angel group investors in China, it was found that thedecision-making process of investors in angel groups applied a dynamic socialgroup process. In the initial stage, investors would judge project risk basedon social assessment criteria (relations, industry). In the middle stage,investors would define and discuss the risks and opportunities of the projectbased on economic criteria (intentions, product demand, innovationentrepreneurs). Under uncertain conditions, the interpretation and judgment ofcommon conflicts was helpful to establish collective intuition and collectivefit in enterprises, and create more social beliefs in positive judgment. In thelatter stage, investors would make final decisions based on social standards(social contagion, collective intuition). By combining the theories of socialcontagion with the theories of entrepreneur finance, Professor Xiao’s working papertried to solve the individual level decision of angel group investors, which hadexpanded the scope and richness of the entrepreneur finance theory series.

Facultyand students from CUFE Business School had a discussion session with ProfessorXiao. Professor Xiao’s visit would further enhance the internationalcollaboration in the field of entrepreneurship research in CUFE BusinessSchool.