Entrepreneurs' use of imagination in pivot decision: Toward a conceptual model

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to open the black box of pivot decisions and to deepen our understanding of how entrepreneurs use their imagination in such a crucial moment of the entrepreneurial process. A pivot is a strategic decision made after a failure and challenges central assumptions about the entrepreneurial project. In turn, entrepreneurs can remain quite conservative in the generation of new options for their business and expose themselves to the risks of path dependency and escalation of commitment. Reconfiguring an initial idea requires specific cognitive skills and mechanisms. In this paper, we sketch a conceptual model explaining the relationships between creative, social, and practical imaginativeness and the generation of new business options, and how founders' cognitive mechanisms may moderate this relationship.