Entrepreneurial opportunity decisions under uncertainty: Recognizing the complementing role of personality traits and cognitive skills

Entrepreneurship research on decision making under uncertainty has focused largely on the effect of uncertainty on the entrepreneurial actions while attempt at the individual level particularly, from the cognitive framework seeks to explain why actions differ. Scholarly efforts have also been made on what informs entrepreneurial actions from the perspective of the entrepreneur’s personal attributes. However, no integrated approach is offered in the literature to study how cognitive skills and personality traits complement each other. In this paper, we consider how cognitive skills and personality traits affect an entrepreneur’s decision to discover or create opportunities under uncertainty. Specifically, we examine the complementary role of personality traits and cognitive skills towards opportunity decisions. We provide a conceptual basis for a broader perspective on behaviors and cognitions that motivate or hinder entrepreneurial actions while at the same time positioning the entrepreneur’s decision at the core of the decision theory. Propositions regarding the application of some selected personality traits and cognitive skills and their complementarity are presented and discussed.