Understanding entrepreneurial imagination through poetry: lessons from John Keats’ ‘Ode to a Nightingale’

Previous entrepreneurship research, particularly within effectuation theory, has been built upon a foundational set of assumptions regarding how entrepreneurs use their powers of imagination to generate novelty. These assumptions include the belief that self-focused attention is the proper starting point of the creative process, that imagination operates as an expressive process from within to without, and that humans, more broadly, are best understood as disembodied wills who find meaning by giving expression to their inner psychological cores. In this paper, we explore the historical origin and contemporary implications of these assumptions, juxtaposing them with alternative viewpoints found in the poetry and philosophy of John Keats (1795–1821). Drawing inspiration from Keats’ deep insights into both the human condition and the creative process, as articulated in his canonical poem ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, we illuminate several promising avenues for research that transcend the conventional disembodied inside-out conception of entrepreneurial imagination.