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Journal of International Entrepreneurship

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01-09-2015

Entrepreneurial cognition and behavior in the discovery and creation of international opportunities

Authors: Manuel Jose Oyson III, Hugh Whittaker

Published in: Journal of International Entrepreneurship | Issue 3/2015

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Abstract

Opportunities have become central to the field of international entrepreneurship (IE), but empirical exploration of the concept and its processes is still in its infancy. Based on case studies of 12 internationalizing New Zealand businesses, this paper unpacks the opportunity construct and distinguishes between discovery, which in essence refers to cognitive dimensions of potential opportunities, and their actualization or creation through cognitive refinement and entrepreneurial action. Hence, it provides a distinctive way of navigating the discovery/creation debate, with its competing ontological positions. It also identifies the role of entrepreneurial imagination as a significant cognitive source of opportunity discovery alongside knowledge.

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Discovery theory emerged from Austrian economics to explain the tendency of market processes toward equilibrium, and has been absorbed in entrepreneurship literature. Kirzner (1985, p. 12) postulated that market processes tended toward equilibrium as a result of a continuous entrepreneurial discovery process that was not dependent on systematic, deliberate search or sheer luck. Instead, the entrepreneurial discovery process was, according to Kirzner (1997, p. 72) driven by a natural alertness of entrepreneurs to “available (but hitherto overlooked) opportunities.”

Shane and Venkataraman (2000, p. 218) later adopted this definition in delineating the field of entrepreneurship, but (inexplicably) dropped the notion of opportunities as created. The IE definitions of Zahra and George (2002) and Oviatt and McDougall (2005) also omitted opportunity creation.

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Title: Entrepreneurial cognition and behavior in the discovery and creation of international opportunities
Authors: Manuel Jose Oyson III
Hugh Whittaker
Publication date: 01-09-2015
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of International Entrepreneurship / Issue 3/2015
Print ISSN: 1570-7385
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7349
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-015-0156-6

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