IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbvent/v25y2010i1p73-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are opportunities recognized or constructed?: An information perspective on entrepreneurial opportunity identification

Author

Listed:
  • Vaghely, Ivan P.
  • Julien, Pierre-André

Abstract

Using a case study of ten SMEs the authors apply a model of human information processing which provides a frame to help understand the entrepreneur's use of information to identify opportunities. Their model integrates an algorithmic or pattern type of information processing and a heuristic or trial and error type of information processing into a pragmatic frame of the entrepreneur's opportunity recognition-construction mechanism. This article shows how human information processing can moderate entrepreneurial opportunity identification.

Suggested Citation

  • Vaghely, Ivan P. & Julien, Pierre-André, 2010. "Are opportunities recognized or constructed?: An information perspective on entrepreneurial opportunity identification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 73-86, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:25:y:2010:i:1:p:73-86
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883-9026(08)00075-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, 1986. "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 554-571, May.
    2. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Jeffery McMullen & Lawrence Plummer & Zoltan Acs, 2007. "What is an Entrepreneurial Opportunity?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 273-283, April.
    4. Robert A. Baron & Thomas B. Ward, 2004. "Expanding Entrepreneurial Cognition's Toolbox: Potential Contributions from the Field of Cognitive Science," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(6), pages 553-573, November.
    5. Norris F. Krueger Jr., 2007. "What Lies Beneath? The Experiential Essence of Entrepreneurial Thinking," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(1), pages 123-138, January.
    6. Dev K. Dutta & Mary M. Crossan, 2005. "The Nature of Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Understanding the Process Using the 4I Organizational Learning Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(4), pages 425-449, July.
    7. Milan Zeleny, 2005. "PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE: Moving From Data and Information to Knowledge and Wisdom," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Human Systems Management Integrating Knowledge, Management and Systems, chapter 1, pages 1-77, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Audretsch, David B & Feldman, Maryann P, 1996. "R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 630-640, June.
    9. Alistair R. Anderson & Sarah L. Jack, 2002. "The articulation of social capital in entrepreneurial networks: a glue or a lubricant?," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 193-210, July.
    10. Norris F. Krueger Jr., 2000. "The Cognitive Infrastructure of Opportunity Emergence," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 24(3), pages 5-24, April.
    11. Helena Yli‐Renko & Erkko Autio & Harry J. Sapienza, 2001. "Social capital, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge exploitation in young technology‐based firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 587-613, June.
    12. Kaish, Stanley & Gilad, Benjamin, 1991. "Characteristics of opportunities search of entrepreneurs versus executives: Sources, interests, general alertness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 45-61, January.
    13. Ronald K. Mitchell & Lowell W. Busenitz & Barbara Bird & Connie Marie Gaglio & Jeffery S. McMullen & Eric A. Morse & J. Brock Smith, 2007. "The Central Question in Entrepreneurial Cognition Research 2007," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(1), pages 1-27, January.
    14. Ronald K. Mitchell & Lowell Busenitz & Theresa Lant & Patricia P. McDougall & Eric A. Morse & J. Brock Smith, 2004. "The Distinctive and Inclusive Domain of Entrepreneurial Cognition Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(6), pages 505-518, November.
    15. Robert A. Baron & Michael D. Ensley, 2006. "Opportunity Recognition as the Detection of Meaningful Patterns: Evidence from Comparisons of Novice and Experienced Entrepreneurs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(9), pages 1331-1344, September.
    16. Audretsch, David B. & Lehmann, Erik E., 2005. "Does the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship hold for regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1191-1202, October.
    17. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    18. Pierre-André Julien & Eric Andriambeloson & Charles Ramangalahy, 2004. "Networks, weak signals and technological innovations among SMEs in the land-based transportation equipment sector," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 251-269, July.
    19. Bruyat, Chirstian & Julien, Pierre-Andre, 2001. "Defining the field of research in entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 165-180, March.
    20. Arent Greve & Janet W. Salaff, 2003. "Social Networks and Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(1), pages 1-22, January.
    21. Ward, Thomas B., 2004. "Cognition, creativity, and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 173-188, March.
    22. Pierre-André Julien, 2007. "A Theory of Local Entrepreneurship in the Knowledge Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12800.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nerine Mary George & Vinit Parida & Tom Lahti & Joakim Wincent, 2016. "A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: insights on influencing factors," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 309-350, June.
    2. Dimo Dimov, 2007. "Beyond the Single-Person, Single-Insight Attribution in Understanding Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(5), pages 713-731, September.
    3. Sara Sassetti & Giacomo Marzi & Vincenzo Cavaliere & Cristiano Ciappei, 2018. "Entrepreneurial cognition and socially situated approach: a systematic and bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1675-1718, September.
    4. Jeffery S. McMullen & Katrina M. Brownell & Joel Adams, 2021. "What Makes an Entrepreneurship Study Entrepreneurial? Toward A Unified Theory of Entrepreneurial Agency," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1197-1238, September.
    5. Maribel Guerrero & David Urbano, 2014. "Academics’ start-up intentions and knowledge filters: an individual perspective of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 57-74, June.
    6. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2015. "Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional growth: a network theory," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 103-128, June.
    7. Fellnhofer, Katharina, 2023. "Positivity and higher alertness levels facilitate discovery: Longitudinal sentiment analysis of emotions on Twitter," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    8. Khurana, Indu & Dutta, Dev K, 2021. "From latent to emergent entrepreneurship in innovation ecosystems: The role of entrepreneurial learning," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Steffen Korsgaard & Henrik Berglund & Claus Thrane & Per Blenker, 2016. "A Tale of Two Kirzners: Time, Uncertainty, and the “Nature†of Opportunities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(4), pages 867-889, July.
    10. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    11. Chengguang Li & Rodrigo Isidor & Luis Alfonso Dau & Rudy Kabst, 2018. "The More the Merrier? Immigrant Share and Entrepreneurial Activities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(5), pages 698-733, September.
    12. Schwens, Christian & Kabst, Ruediger, 2011. "Internationalization of young technology firms: A complementary perspective on antecedents of foreign market familiarity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 60-74, February.
    13. Vandor, Peter & Franke, Nikolaus, 2016. "See Paris and… found a business? The impact of cross-cultural experience on opportunity recognition capabilities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 388-407.
    14. Yan Zhou & Sangmoon Park, 2020. "The Regional Determinants of the New Venture Formation in China’s Car-Sharing Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, December.
    15. Enrique Claver-Cortés & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Pedro Seva-Larrosa & Lorena Ruiz-Fernández & Eduardo Sánchez-García, 2020. "Explanatory Factors of Entrepreneurship in Food and Beverage Clusters in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-22, July.
    16. Enrico Santarelli & Hien Thu Tran, 2012. "Growth of Incumbent Firms and Entrepreneurship in V ietnam," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 638-666, December.
    17. Healey, Mark P. & Bleda, Mercedes & Querbes, Adrien, 2021. "Opportunity evaluation in teams: A social cognitive model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    18. Fellnhofer, Katharina, 2022. "Entrepreneurial alertness toward responsible research and innovation: Digital technology makes the psychological heart of entrepreneurship pound," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    19. Packard, Mark D. & Burnham, Thomas A., 2021. "Do we understand each other? Toward a simulated empathy theory for entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    20. Jing Xia & Wei Liu & Sang-Bing Tsai & Guodong Li & Chien-Chi Chu & Kai Wang, 2018. "A System Dynamics Framework for Academic Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-25, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:25:y:2010:i:1:p:73-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusvent .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.