Capturing entrepreneurial intuition : a multi-method approach

Abstract

Reflecting recent developments in the wider field of psychology (Böhm & Brun, 2008; Peters et al., 2006), entrepreneurial cognition scholars have recently shown an increased interest in the role of intuition in entrepreneurship (Allinson et al., 2000; Dane & Pratt, 2009; Dutta & Thornhill, 2008). However despite noticeable advancements in understanding the role of intuition in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial scholars still have a great deal to learn about intuition, because not many researchers have “taken up the challenge” of empirically investigating intuition in entrepreneurial settings (Blume & Covin, 2011: 138). This may be due at least in part to the methodological challenges involved in studying a nonconscious process such as intuition, which by definition occurs out of conscious awareness and therefore does not lend itself to self-reflection (Sadler-Smith et al., 2008). Several calls have been made for research on intuition in entrepreneurship to combine traditional self-report measures of cognitive style with one or more of a range of alternative assessment techniques to tap into the actual use of intuition (Blume & Covin, 2011; Hodgkinson et al., 2008; Hodgkinson & Sadler-Smith, 2011). In response to these calls, we present a five-stage multi-method framework, made up of (1) planning and preparation, (2) data collection, (3) data transcription and segmentation, (4) coding, and (5) further analyses.