IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jouent/v31y2022i2_supplps52-s78.html

Teaching Opportunity Recognition: Meeting the Challenges of Message, Method and Measurement

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca J. White
  • Giles T. Hertz

Abstract

The efficacy of experiential entrepreneurship education is often dependent upon students’ ability to identify a viable entrepreneurial opportunity early in the class or programme. Yet students often struggle with this process for a wide variety of reasons. Translating theory into the classroom may be considered a pathway to provide educators with the tools they need to help students enhance their opportunity recognition skills. In this article, we first review theories of opportunity recognition and challenges associated with teaching this topic. We then offer a pedagogy that addresses the content indicated by theory, a method of teaching the topic and propose an assessment structure. Within the pedagogical model provided, educators have the freedom to incorporate their preferred individual instructional tools to meet the needs of their learner audiences and to allow them to take advantage of their own personal resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca J. White & Giles T. Hertz, 2022. "Teaching Opportunity Recognition: Meeting the Challenges of Message, Method and Measurement," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 31(2_suppl), pages 52-78, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jouent:v:31:y:2022:i:2_suppl:p:s52-s78
    DOI: 10.1177/09713557221107436
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09713557221107436
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09713557221107436?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael H. Morris & Justin W. Webb & Jun Fu & Sujata Singhal, 2013. "A Competency‐Based Perspective on Entrepreneurship Education: Conceptual and Empirical Insights," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 352-369, July.
    2. Kirzner, Israel M., 1974. "Capital, Competition, and Capitalism," Working Papers 74-06, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    3. Ardichvili, Alexander & Cardozo, Richard & Ray, Sourav, 2003. "A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 105-123, January.
    4. David J. Hansen & Rodney Shrader & Javier Monllor, 2011. "Defragmenting Definitions of Entrepreneurial Opportunity," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(2), pages 283-304, April.
    5. Asante, Eric Adom & Affum-Osei, Emmanuel, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as a career choice: The impact of locus of control on aspiring entrepreneurs' opportunity recognition," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 227-235.
    6. Hernan E. Riquelme, 2013. "In Search Of Entrepreneurial Opportunities — An Integrated Model," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(03), pages 249-274.
    7. G.T. Lumpkin & Benyamin Bergmann Lichtenstein, 2005. "The Role of Organizational Learning in the Opportunity–Recognition Process," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(4), pages 451-472, July.
    8. Bruce Teague & Richard Tunstall & Claire Champenois & William Gartner, 2021. "An Introduction to Entrepreneurship as Practice (EAP)," Post-Print hal-03246457, HAL.
    9. Vaghely, Ivan P. & Julien, Pierre-André, 2010. "Are opportunities recognized or constructed?: An information perspective on entrepreneurial opportunity identification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 73-86, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marieke Funck & Benjamin P. Krebs & Slawa Tomin & Bernhard A. Wach & Rüdiger Kabst, 2023. "The Role of National Culture in Hackathon Teams’ Capacity for Ideation," Working Papers Dissertations 114, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. Crawford, G. Christopher & Joo, Harry & Aguinis, Herman, 2024. "Under the weight of heavy tails: A power law perspective on the emergence of outliers in entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    3. George Alexakis & Aysegul Timur & Bert Seither, 2025. "When Intuition Marries Data-Driven Decisions: A Quality Management Case of How Pelican Sound Golf & River Club Averted Turmoil and Assured Its Future," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 34(1), pages 181-202, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fellnhofer, Katharina, 2023. "Positivity and higher alertness levels facilitate discovery: Longitudinal sentiment analysis of emotions on Twitter," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    2. Chiraz Karamti & Najla Wannes Abd-Mouleh, 2023. "Finding Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Times of Crisis: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(3), pages 3519-3548, September.
    3. Grichnik, Dietmar & Smeja, Alexander & Welpe, Isabell, 2010. "The importance of being emotional: How do emotions affect entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation and exploitation?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 15-29, October.
    4. Antje Schmitt & Kathrin Rosing & Stephen X. Zhang & Michael Leatherbee, 2018. "A Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Uncertainty and Business Opportunity Identification: Exploration as a Mediator and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy as a Moderator," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(6), pages 835-859, November.
    5. Song, Zijie & Guo, Chenyun & Chen, Yanying & Zhu, Hang, 2025. "The value of public information: Media coverage of incumbent firms and entrepreneurial activities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    6. Valliere, Dave, 2013. "Towards a schematic theory of entrepreneurial alertness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 430-442.
    7. Shepherd, Dean A. & Sattari, Rose & Patzelt, Holger, 2022. "A social model of opportunity development: Building and engaging communities of inquiry," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1).
    8. Wyrwich, Michael, 2013. "Can socioeconomic heritage produce a lost generation with regard to entrepreneurship?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 667-682.
    9. Sophie Boutillier, 2019. "Small Entrepreneurship, Knowledge and Social Resources in a Heavy Industrial Territory. The Case of Eco-Innovations in Dunkirk, North of France," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(3), pages 997-1018, September.
    10. Tang, Jintong & Kacmar, K. Michele (Micki) & Busenitz, Lowell, 2012. "Entrepreneurial alertness in the pursuit of new opportunities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 77-94.
    11. Eduardo Terán-Yépez & David Jiménez-Castillo & Manuel Sánchez-Pérez, 2022. "The effect of international opportunity recognition processes on problem-solving competence: how does past negative entrepreneurial experience matter?," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(2), pages 541-579, June.
    12. Mai Thi Thanh Thai & Amon Simba & Marina Dabić, 2024. "Host versus home country influence on the immigrant entrepreneurial process: an imprinting perspective," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(12), pages 3597-3638, December.
    13. Buccieri, Dominic & Javalgi, Raj G. & Cavusgil, Erin, 2023. "Role of opportunity creation between reconfiguration and innovation: Insights from emerging market international new ventures," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    14. Turulja Lejla & Smajlović Selma & Šimičević Vanja, 2025. "Business Model Innovation: Impact of Entrepreneurial Competencies to New Value Proposition," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 40-59.
    15. Wang, Zhiwei & Wei, Lican & Wang, Song, 2025. "Navigating disruptive innovation through opportunity recognition: A configurational approach to team learning," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    16. Dietmar Grichnik & Alexander Smeja & Isabell Welpe, 2010. "The Importance of Being Emotional: How do Emotions Affect Entrepreneurial Opportunity Evaluation and Exploitation?," Post-Print hal-00856603, HAL.
    17. Zhao, Mengli & Sheng, Shibin & Yang, Xiangyu, 2023. "Are government employees more or less likely to venture? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    18. Franczak, Jennifer & Lanivich, Stephen E. & Adomako, Samuel, 2023. "Filling institutional voids: Combinative effects of institutional shortcomings and gender on the alertness – Opportunity recognition relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    19. Halberstadt, Jantje & Schwab, Anne-Kathrin & Kraus, Sascha, 2024. "Cleaning the window of opportunity: Towards a typology of sustainability entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    20. Jessica Birkholz, 2025. "Regional embeddedness is the key: Quantity and quality of regional business opportunity perception," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1083-1109, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jouent:v:31:y:2022:i:2_suppl:p:s52-s78. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ediindia.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.