ABSTRACT
Research on entrepreneurial cognition has identified a disparate set of cognitive acts that favor or constrain the recognition of opportunities. In this chapter, we build on a cognitive approach to entrepreneurial research to illustrate a set of cognitive acts that explain how healthcare entrepreneurs develop and explore ideas related to new business opportunities. More specifically, we define relevant cognitive acts—framing, analogical reasoning, abductive reasoning, counterfactual reasoning, and mental simulation—and explicate how they operate in the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities. This conservative, comprehensive set of cognitive acts serves to suggest promising avenues for future theoretical and empirical research in healthcare entrepreneurship.
