Decide to Take Entrepreneurial Action: Role of Entrepreneurial Cognitive Schema on Cognitive Process of Exploiting Entrepreneurial Opportunity

Abstract

Given its impact on preference for different information, the cognitive schema is recognized as a critical mechanism for people to make up their minds on willingness to act. However, how entrepreneurial cognitive schema influences cognitive processes remains unclear. Based on entrepreneurial action theory and information processing theory, we delineate the relationship between entrepreneurial cognitive schema and decision of entrepreneurial action by decomposing the cognitive process of comprehending external information related to entrepreneurial opportunity. We randomized 123 participants into different priming groups and collected their decision policies with a conjoint analysis experiment. Firstly, we found the individuated cognitive process, since the positive effect of founding rates is strengthened, and dissolution rates are reduced by positive knowledge-relatedness. Further, we partly validated the moderating role of entrepreneurial cognitive schema, with a more positive relationship between founding rates and willingness to act, and between knowledge-relatedness and willingness to act when participants are primed with this future-focused schema. This paper proves one critical cognitive unit while making a decision to act on entrepreneurial opportunity and indicated an active role of entrepreneurial cognitive schema in enabling people to emphasize and make better use of relevant information.