Examining the Nexus Between Entrepreneurial Imagination and Venture Innovativeness

Abstract

The new venture creation process begins when entrepreneurs come to imagine their venture ideas, yet we lack a comprehensive understanding of the imagination-innovation nexus for entrepreneurial ventures. In this research, we take a dynamic approach and combine entrepreneurial imaginativeness perspective with schema theory to argue that entrepreneurial imaginativeness will influence venture innovativeness and this relationship is likely to be contingent on the founder’s knowledge depth and breadth. Using a two-step process and combining data from a survey of 98 entrepreneurs and secondary sources, we show that entrepreneurial imaginativeness enhances venture innovativeness and the founder’s knowledge component has a differential effect on this relationship. More specifically, we hypothesize that knowledge depth constraints the effect of imaginativeness on venture innovativeness, while knowledge breadth enhances the effect of imaginativeness on venture innovativeness.