To thine own self be true: Images of self, images of opportunity, and entrepreneurial action

Article history: Received 22 October 2007 Received in revised form 30 June 2008 Accepted 13 August 2008 While research in entrepreneurship continues to increase general understanding of the opportunity-recognition process, questions about its nature nonetheless persist. In this study, we seek to complement recent research that relates “the self” to the opportunity-recognition process by deepening understanding of the self vis-à-vis this process. We do this by drawing on the self-representation literature and the decision-making literature to introduce two distinct types of images of self: images of vulnerability and images of capability. In a study of 1936 decisions about hypothetical entrepreneurial opportunities made by 121 executives of technology firms, we then investigate how both types of images of self affect the images of opportunities that underlie opportunity recognition. Our results indicate that both images of self – vulnerability and capability – impact one's images of opportunity. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.