THE ROLE OF AFFECT AND COGNITION IN THE ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING AND ACTION

Over the past few years, affect and cognition research has been used in a very promising way in the field of entrepreneurial research. Recent works suggest that the processes that involve cognition and affect (moods, feelings, emotions) have an impact on opportunity evaluation, decision making, problem solving and idea exploitation. Extending these research findings to entrepreneurship, affect evolves into a key aspect. It is essential to broaden our understanding of how entrepreneurs think, feel and act, which will lead us to a deeper knowledge of the entrepreneurial process. A theoretical framework of the impact and the interactive effects of cognition and affect on the stages between entrepreneurial thinking and action is developed in this paper. Especially, the impact of affect and the role of different cognitive styles as potential moderators of thinking and acting in the field of entrepreneurship is examined in the same time. It is demonstrated that positive and negative affect effect in various ways the entrepreneurs' thinking and acting, and the necessity is pointed out that affect and intuition must be placed within the broader frame of cognition, so that feelings and emotions will be seen as a tool and factor for entrepreneurial rationality. The main purpose of this article is to propose and provide a multivariable theoretical background that may form the basis for future multi-perspective investigation of the influence of affect on entrepreneurial thinking and action. Last but not least, it is suggested that it is essential to support the development of guidance techniques, which will help entrepreneurs to understand their personal characteristics and cognitive, affective and intuitive abilities in order to think and act more effectively.