Critiquing and renewing the entrepreneurial imagination

This chapter examines assumptions about the entrepreneurial imagination to pinpoint underlying philosophical assumptions. The processual critique challenges contemporary conceptions of the entrepreneurial imagination as a cognitive ability associated mainly with the recognition of opportunities. Contemporary entrepreneurship research has kept the notion of imagination alive by reference to it as driving an individual ability to envision opportunities and reconceive of existing social order. The entrepreneurial imagination begins, just like in all humans, with the primary imagination and one’s attempt to perceive the material and social world. Accordingly, interactions between the co-founders coincide with the use of primary imagination to subconsciously understand and consciously participate in various social practices. The chapter reviews the notions of primary and secondary imagination, images and creative expression from imagination literature. It presents a contribution to entrepreneurship research by arguing for the renewed relevance of the entrepreneurial imagination.