Insiders, Outsider, Evaluators: Differing Relationships Between Perspective Taking and Opportunities
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper examines the differing effects of perspective taking on entrepreneurial opportunity identification and evaluation. Proposing creative opportunities requires both novelty and usefulness and we find that individuals differ in contributing as well as appreciating one or the other. Data from three different experiments suggest that perspective taking among organizational insiders is beneficial for identifying useful opportunities, while organizational outsiders use their perspective taking abilities to identify novel opportunities. Opportunity evaluators high in perspective taking, similar to insiders, are better at understanding the usefulness of opportunities.