Intuition in entrepreneurial cognition

Abstract

Intuition is widely claimed to play a central role in entrepreneurial cognition. Various well-known entrepreneurs have attributed many of their decisions and much of their success to their gut feelings, and these claims are supported to some extent by the academic literature. Although the past few years have witnessed a marked growth in the body of literature on entrepreneurial intuition, there are still numerous avenues to be explored in this research area because robust empirical evidence is scant, leaving some questions unanswered and others unasked. This chapter provides an overview of what is currently known about intuition in entrepreneurial cognition. It comprises three main sections, namely: ‘Understanding Intuition’, which aims at clarifying what intuition is (and is not), discussing its relationship with experience and expertise and elucidating the link between intuition as a cognitive style and as a cognitive strategy; ‘Appreciating Intuition’, which aims at fostering an appreciation for intuition by reporting some recent research findings which highlight how it may be beneficial in entrepreneurship, particularly in enabling opportunity identification and exploitation; and 'Developing Intuition’, which consolidates a selection of principles, guidelines and methods that have been proposed by leading authors to foster intuition. The chapter ends with some suggestions for future research on intuition in entrepreneurship.