Entrepreneurial thinking: rational vs intuitive

Abstract

PurposeIntentions are central to entrepreneurial thinking and thus entrepreneurial action yet we have not explored the different pathways of how intent evolves. How does an easily assessed measure of cognitive style influence how entrepreneurs develop their intentions?Design/methodology/approachWe examine how cognitive style interacts with entrepreneurial intentions testing the model separately with subjects scoring as Intuitives or Analytics on cognitive style, plus nationality and gender as covariates with entrepreneurial intensity as a prospective moderator, using 528 university students from Norway, Russia and Finland.FindingsCognitive style does moderate the intentions model. For intuitives, country influenced social norms and entrepreneurial intensity proved a moderator. For analytics, neither perceived desirability, country, nor entrepreneurial intensity were significant.Research limitations/implicationsWe will replicate these findings in different samples, especially non-WEIRD settings. It will also be useful to test alternate measures of cognitive style and other likely moderators.Practical implicationsWe offer diagnostics for educators and ecosystem actors given that our findings suggest intriguing differences in the entrepreneurial mindset.Social implicationsUnderstanding multiple pathways exist to entrepreneurial intent and thus action helps policymakers and entrepreneurial champions better able to help nurture entrepreneurs and thus entrepreneurship in their communities.Originality/valueCognitive style has dramatic effects on the specification of the formal intentions model arguing for multiple pathways to entrepreneurial intent. For example, two entrepreneurs might arrive at the same intention but through very different processes because they differ in cognitive style.