Gabi Kaffka

Sensebreaking and the Development of Entrepreneurial Cognition

Using a longitudinal data set of weekly diary entries we followed 22 entrepreneurs engaged in new venture building for an year. Working with 11200 distinct units of analysis we identified 186 specific instances of sensebreaking. Upon qualitative analysis of these instances we show that sensebreaking aids the development of entrepreneurial cognition via three possible actions: questioning, reframing and redirecting. We identify the stakeholders involved in the venture who trigger sensebreaking within the entrepreneurs and group them by each sensebreaking action. In this way we contribute to the micro-level foundations of entrepreneurial cognition and its origins, and simultaneous business opportunity development by substantiating the role of supporting stakeholders.

The Entrepreneurial ‘Mindset’: Entrepreneurial Intentions from the Entrepreneurial Event to Neuroentrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial intentions are among the most researched phenomena in the field of entrepreneurship, but its real value is in the new doors it is opening. The increase in entrepreneurial intentions research during the 1980s and 1990s coincides with the introduction of contributions from the field of psychology: social psychology, cognitive psychology and now developmental psychology and even neuroscience. What we are now finding is advancing theory, research, practice and especially education. Entrepreneurial intentions may affect entrepreneurial behavior and, subsequently, venture development and growth, but the more we study intentions, the more we need to look deeper at where intent actually arises. This chapter celebrates this still-growing trajectory with a look at how it has evolved and an example of where it is heading.

In Search of the “Entrepreneurial Mindset”:Insights from Neuroscience

The way in which cognitive abilities – affective as well as intellectual – influence the development of the entrepreneurial mindset has been topic of academic discussion for quite some years (Cardon et al, 2005; Grégoire et al, 2010; Krueger & Day 2010). For example, Baron (2007) argued that cognitive abilities in the form of experience are an explanatory factor for why some people identify business opportunities successfully.