relationship between problem solving and entrepreneurship

6.1 Problem Solving to Find Entrepreneurial Solutions

Portions of the material in this section are based on original work by Geoffrey Graybeal and produced with support from the Rebus Community. The original is freely available under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license at https://press.rebus.community/media-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Define problem solving in the context of entrepreneurship
Describe and compare the adaptive model and the innovative model of problem solving
Identify the skills entrepreneurs need for effective problem solving
Identify types of problem solvers

As you’ve learned, entrepreneurs often visualize an opportunity gap, a gap between what exists and what could exist, as Hirabayashi and Lidey did with Shine. Entrepreneurial problem solving is the process of using innovation and creative solutions to close that gap by resolving societal, business, or technological problems. Sometimes, personal problems can lead to entrepreneurial opportunities if validated in the market. The entrepreneur visualizes the prospect of filling the gap with an innovative solution that might entail the revision of a product or the creation of an entirely new product. In any case, the entrepreneur approaches the problem-solving process in various ways. This chapter is more about problem solving as it pertains to the entrepreneur’s thought process and approach rather than on problem solving in the sense of opportunity recognition and filling those gaps with new products.

For example, as we read in Identifying Entrepreneurial Opportunity , Sara Blakely (as shown in Figure 6.2 ) saw a need for body contouring and smoothing undergarments one day in the late 1990s when she was getting dressed for a party and couldn’t find what she needed to give her a silhouette she’d be pleased with in a pair of slacks. She saw a problem: a market need. But her problem-solving efforts are what drove her to turn her solution (Spanx undergarments) into a viable product. Those efforts came from her self-admitted can-do attitude: “It’s really important to be resourceful and scrappy—a glass half-full mindset.” 1 Her efforts at creating a new undergarment met resistance with hosiery executives, most of whom were male and out of touch with their female consumers. The hosiery owner who decided to help Blakely initially passed on the idea until running it by his daughters and realizing she was on to something. That something became Spanx , and today, Blakely is a successful entrepreneur. 2

Before getting into the heart of this chapter, we need to make a distinction: Decision making is different from problem solving . A decision is needed to continue or smooth a process affecting the operation of a firm. It can be intuitive or might require research and a long period of consideration. Problem solving , however, is more direct. It entails the solution of some problem where a gap exists between a current state and a desired state. Entrepreneurs are problem solvers who offer solutions using creativity or innovative ventures that exploit opportunities. This chapter focuses on different approaches to problem solving and need recognition that help potential entrepreneurs come up with ideas and refine those ideas.

Two Problem Solving Models: Adaptive and Innovative

There are two prominent established problem-solving models: adaptive and innovative . A renowned British psychologist, Michael Kirton , developed the Kirton Adaption-Innovation (KAI) Inventory to measure an individual’s style of problem solving. 3 Problem-solving preferences are dependent on the personality characteristics of originality, conformity, and efficiency, according to Kirton. The KAI inventory identifies an individual’s problem-solving approach by measuring agreement with statements that align with characteristics, such as the ability to produce many novel ideas, to follow rules and get along in groups, and to systematically orient daily behavior. The results categorize an individual as an innovator or an adaptor. Innovators are highly original, do not like to conform, and value efficiency less than adaptors.

The first and more conservative approach an entrepreneur may use to solve problems is the adaptive model. The adaptive model seeks solutions for problems in ways that are tested and known to be effective. An adaptive model accepts the problem definition and is concerned with resolving problems rather than finding them. This approach seeks greater efficiency while aiming at continuity and stability. The second and more creative approach is the innovative model of entrepreneurial problem solving, which uses techniques that are unknown to the market and that bring advantage to an organization. An innovative problem-solving style challenges the problem definition, discovers problems and avenues for their solutions, and questions existing assumptions—in a nutshell, it does things differently. It uses outside-the-box thinking and searches for novel solutions. Novelty is a shared trait of creative entrepreneurship, and it’s why entrepreneurs gravitate toward this method of problem solving. According to Dr. Shaun M. Powell , a senior lecturer at the University of Wollongong, Australia: “Creative entrepreneurs are notable for a distinctive management style that is based on intuition, informality and rapid decision making, whereas the more conventional thinking styles are not in accord with the unique attributes of creative entrepreneurs.” 4 This way of problem solving doesn’t alter an existing product. It is the creation of something entirely new.

For example, healthcare facilities have long been known as a source of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a deadly infection that can have long-term effects on patients. Vital Vio , led by Colleen Costello , has developed white light technology that effectively disinfects healthcare facilities by targeting a molecule specific to bacteria. The light, safe to humans, can burn constantly to kill regenerative bacteria. An adaptive problem-solving model would seek to minimize harm of MRSA within a hospital—to respond to it—whereas the Vital Vio is an entirely new technique that seeks to eliminate it. Adaptive solutions to MRSA include established processes and protocols for prevention, such as having doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers clean their hands with soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub before and after patient care, testing patients to see if they have MRSA on their skin, cleaning hospital rooms and medical equipment, and washing and drying clothes and bed linens in the warmest recommended temperatures. 5

Link to Learning

Visit Inc. Magazine for support and advice for up-and-coming startups to learn more. Examples of how “Dorm Room” entrepreneurs spot and pursue opportunities are shared along with tips and advice for making your startup a success.

Problem-Solving Skills

While identifying problems is a necessary part of the origin of the entrepreneurial process, managing problems is an entirely different aspect once a venture is off the ground and running. An entrepreneur does not have the luxury of avoiding problems and is often responsible for all problem solving in a startup or other form of business. There are certain skills that entrepreneurs possess that make them particularly good problem solvers. Let’s examine each skill (shown in Figure 6.3 ) .

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the complex analysis of a problem or issue with the goal of solving the problem or making a decision. The entrepreneur analyzes and peels away the layers of a problem to find the core of an issue facing a business. The entrepreneur focuses on the heart of the problem and responds reasonably and openly to suggestions for solving it. Critical thinking is not only important for developing entrepreneurial ideas: it is a sought-after asset in education and employment. Entrepreneur Rebecca Kantar dropped out of Harvard in 2015 to found the tech startup Imbellus , which aims to replace standardized college admissions tests like the SAT with interactive scenarios that test critical-thinking skills. Many standardized tests may include multiple choice questions asking for the answer to a straightforward knowledge question or math problem. Kantar seeks to create tests that are more concerned with the analytic ability and reasoning that goes into the process of solving the problem. Imbellus says it aims to test “how people think,” not just what they know. The platform, which has not yet launched, will use simulations for its user assessments. 6

Read more about problem solving and EnterpriseWorks/Vita’s story at Harvard Business Review .

Communication

Communication skills , the ability to communicate messages effectively to an intended recipient, are the skills entrepreneurs use to pool resources for the purposes of investigating solutions leading to innovative problem solving and competitive advantage. Good communication allows for the free association of ideas between entrepreneurs and businesses. It can illustrate a problem area or a shared vision, and seeks stakeholder buy-in from various constituencies. Networking and communication within an industry allow the entrepreneur to recognize the position of an enterprise in the market and work toward verbalizing solutions that move an organization beyond its current state. By “verbalizing,” we mean communication from and with the company/entity. Internal communications include company emails, newsletters, presentations, and reports that can set strategic goals and objectives, and report on what has been accomplished and what goals and objectives remain, so that employees within an organization are knowledgeable and can work on solving problems that remain within the organization. External communications could include press releases, blogs and websites, social media, public speeches, and presentations that explain the company’s solutions to problems. They could also be investor pitches complete with business plans and financial projections.

Ideation exercises, such as brainstorming sessions (discussed in Creativity, Innovation, and Invention , are good communication tools that entrepreneurs can use to generate solutions to problems. Another such tool is a hackathon —an event, usually hosted by a tech company or organization, which brings together programmers and workers with other degrees of specialization within the company, community, or organization to collaborate on a project over a short period of time. These can last from twenty-four hours to a few days over a weekend. A hackathon can be an internal company-wide initiative or an external event that brings community participants together. A business model canvas , which is covered in Business Model and Plan and other activities outlined in other chapters can be used internally or externally to identify problems and work toward creating a viable solution.

Networking is an important manifestation of useful communication. What better method is there of presenting one’s concept, gaining funding and buy-in, and marketing for the startup than through building a network of individuals willing to support your venture? A network may consist of potential employees, customers, board members, outside advisors, investors, or champions (people who just love your product) with no direct vested interest. Social networks consist of weak ties and strong ties. Sociologist Mark Granovetter studied such networks back in the 1970s, and his findings still apply today, even if we include social media networks in the definition too. Weak ties facilitate flow of information and community organization, he said, whereas strong ties represent strong connections among close friends, family members, and supportive coworkers. 7 Strong ties require more work to maintain than weak ties (as illustrated by the strong lines and weak dotted lines in Figure 6.4 ) and in a business context, they don’t lead to many new opportunities. Weak ties, in contrast, do open doors in that they act as bridges to other weak ties within functional areas or departments that you might not have had access to directly or through strong ties. 8

In fact, many young entrepreneurs, including tech entrepreneur Oliver Isaacs , realize college is a great place to begin building teams. Isaacs is the founder of viral opinion network Amirite.com , which is widely credited as the place where Internet memes started and online slang got a foothold. 9 Amirite.com consists of a large network of pages and partnerships on Facebook and Instagram that reach 15 million users each month. Isaacs recommends using your alumni network to build a team and customer base for your own venture because you never know if you’re talking to a future employee or partner.

Sharing of ideas and resources is highly valued in the entrepreneurial process. Communication is a vital skill in problem solving because the ability to identify and articulate the problem (define the problem space) is necessary to adequately address a problem. A problem can be too vague or broad or narrow. Thus, communicating the problem is important, as is conveying the solution.

Decisiveness

Decisiveness is as it sounds: the ability to make a quick, effective decision, not letting too much time go by in the process. Entrepreneurs must be productive, even in the face of risk. They often rely on intuition as well as on hard facts in making a choice. They ask what problem needs to be solved, think about solutions, and then consider the means necessary to implement an idea. And the decisions must be informed with research.

For example, as explained in Adam Grant’s book The Originals , the co-founders of Warby Parker, a venture-backed startup focused on the eyewear industry, started their company while they were graduate students. At the time they knew little about the industry, but after conducting some detailed research, they learned that the industry was dominated by one major player—Luxottica. They used this information and other data to refine their strategy and business model (focusing mainly on value, quality, and convenience via an online channel). By the time they decided to launch the business, they had thought through the key details, and they attained rapid early success. Today Warby Parker has over 100 retail stores in the US, is profitable, and is valued at almost $2 billion.

Decisiveness is the catapult to progress. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos preaches the importance of decisiveness throughout his organization. Bezos believes that decisiveness can even lead to innovation. Bezos advocates for making decisions after obtaining 70 percent of the information you need to do so: “Being wrong may be less costly than you think, whereas being slow is going to be expensive for sure,” Bezos wrote in a 2017 annual letter to stockholders. 10

Read this LinkedIn blog post on decisiveness to learn more.

Ability to Analyze Data

Data analysis is the process of analyzing data and modeling it into a structure that leads to innovative conclusions. Identifying Entrepreneurial Opportunity covered much of the sources of data that entrepreneurs might seek. But it is one thing to amass information and statistics. It is another to make sense of that data, to use it to fill a market need or forecast a trend to come. Successful founders know how to pose questions about and make meaning out of information. And if they can’t do that themselves, they know how to bring in experts who can.

In addition to public sources of broad data, a business can collect data on customers when they interact with the company on social media or when they visit the company website, especially if they complete a credit card transaction. They can collect their own specific data on their own customers, including location, name, activity, and how they got to the website. Analyzing these data will give the entrepreneur a better idea about the interested audience’s demographic.

In entrepreneurship, analyzing data can help with opportunity recognition, creation, and assessment by analyzing data in a variety of ways. Entrepreneurs can explore and leverage different data sources to identify and compare “attractive” opportunities, since such analyses can describe what has happened, why it happened, and how likely it is to happen again in the future. In business in general, analytics is used to help managers/entrepreneurs gain improved insight about their business operations/emerging ventures and make better, fact-based decisions.

Analytics can be descriptive, predictive, or prescriptive. Descriptive analytics involves understanding what has happened and what is happening; predictive analytics uses data from past performance to estimate future performance; and prescriptive analytics uses the results of descriptive and predictive analytics to make decisions. Data analysis can be applied to manage customer relations, inform financial and marketing activities, make pricing decisions, manage the supply chain, and plan for human resource needs, among other functions of a venture. In addition to statistical analysis, quantitative methods, and computer models to aid decision-making, companies are also increasingly using artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze data and make quick decisions.

Understanding of Business and Industry

Entrepreneurs need sound understanding of markets and industries. Often times, they are already working in a large organization when they see growth opportunities or inefficiencies in a market. The employee gains a deep understanding of the industry at hand. If the employee considers a possible solution for a problem, this solution might become the basis for a new business.

For example, consider a marketing agency that used traditional marketing for thirty years. This agency had an established clientele. An executive in the organization began studying social media analytics and social media. The executive approached the owner of the business to change processes and begin serving clients through social media, but the owner refused. Clients within the agency began to clamor for exposure on social media. The marketing executive investigated the possibility of building an agency in her locale servicing clients who wish to utilize social media. The marketing executive left the organization and started her own agency (providing, of course, that this is in compliance with any noncompete clauses in her contract). Her competitive advantage was familiarity with both traditional and social media venues. Later, the original agency started floundering because it did not offer social media advertising. Our intrepid executive purchased the agency to gain the clientele and serve those wishing to move away from traditional marketing.

A similar experience occurred for entrepreneur Katie Witkin . After working in traditional marketing roles, the University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, pictured in Figure 6.5 , left agency life behind four years out of college to cofound her own company, AGW Group . In 2009, Witkin had been interning at a music marketing agency that didn’t have a social media department. She knew, both from her time at college and from observing industry trends, that social media was changing the way companies connected with customers. For her own venture, she expanded the focus to all supporting brands to manage all things digital. Today, the cultural and marketing communications agency has fifteen employees and big-name clients ranging from HBO to Red Bull. 11

Resourcefulness

“There is not a more useful or important trait to possess than resourcefulness in the pursuit of success. Resourcefulness is a mindset, and is especially relevant when the goals you have set are difficult to achieve or you cannot envision a clear path to get to where you desire to go. With a resourcefulness mindset you are driven to find a way. An attitude of resourcefulness inspires out-of-the-box thinking, the generation of new ideas, and the ability to visualize all the possible ways to achieve what you desire. Resourcefulness turns you into a scrappy, inventive and enterprising entrepreneur. It places you a cut above the rest.” 12

Entrepreneurs start thinking about a business venture or startup by talking to people and procuring experts to help create, fund, and begin a business. Entrepreneurs are risk takers, passionate about new endeavors. If they don’t have a college degree or a great deal of business experience, they understand there are many resources available to support them in the endeavor, such as the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) . There are many sources available to fund the business with little or no debt and options, as you will see in the chapter on Entrepreneurial Finance and Accounting . The entrepreneur follows a vision and researches opportunities to move toward a dream.

For example, in the late 1990s, Bill McBean and his business partner Billy Sterett had an opportunity to buy an underperforming auto dealership that would make their company the dominant one in the market. Neither wanting to take cash from other ventures nor wanting to borrow more money and tie themselves to more debt, the entrepreneurs were resourceful by finding another path forward to obtaining the money necessary for the acquisition they both coveted. They changed banks and renegotiated their banking payback requirements, lowering their interest payments, reducing fees, and lowering their monthly payments, ultimately freeing up a significant amount of cash that allowed them to buy the new company. 13

Types of Problem Solvers

Entrepreneurs have an insatiable appetite for problem solving. This drive motivates them to find a resolution when a gap in a product or service occurs. They recognize opportunities and take advantage of them. There are several types of entrepreneurial problem solvers, including self-regulators, theorists, and petitioners.

Self-Regulating Problem Solvers

Self-regulating problem solvers are autonomous and work on their own without external influence. They have the ability to see a problem, visualize a possible solution to the problem, and seek to devise a solution, as Figure 6.6 illustrates. The solution may be a risk, but a self-regulating problem solver will recognize, evaluate, and mitigate the risk. For example, an entrepreneur has programmed a computerized process for a client, but in testing it, finds the program continually falls into a loop, meaning it gets stuck in a cycle and doesn’t progress. Rather than wait for the client to find the problem, the entrepreneur searches the code for the error causing the loop, immediately edits it, and delivers the corrected program to the customer. There is immediate analysis, immediate correction, and immediate implementation. The self-regulating problem solvers’ biggest competitive advantage is the speed with which they recognize and provide solutions to problems.

Theorist Problem Solvers

Theorist problem solvers see a problem and begin to consider a path toward solving the problem using a theory. Theorist problem solvers are process oriented and systematic. While managers may start with a problem and focus on an outcome with little consideration of a means to an end, entrepreneurs may see a problem and begin to build a path with what is known, a theory, toward an outcome. That is, the entrepreneur proceeds through the steps to solve the problem and then builds on the successes, rejects the failures, and works toward the outcome by experimenting and building on known results. At this point, the problem solver may not know the outcome, but a solution will arise as experiments toward a solution occur. Figure 6.7 shows this process.

For example, if we consider Marie Curie as an entrepreneur, Curie worked toward the isolation of an element. As different approaches to isolating the element failed, Curie recorded the failures and attempted other possible solutions. Curie’s failed theories eventually revealed the outcome for the isolation of radium. Like Curie, theorists use considered analysis, considered corrective action, and a considered implementation process. When time is of the essence, entrepreneurs should understand continual experimentation slows the problem-solving process.

Petitioner Problem Solvers

Petitioner problem solvers ( Figure 6.8 ) see a problem and ask others for solution ideas. This entrepreneur likes to consult a person who has “been there and done that.” The petitioner might also prefer to solve the problem in a team environment. Petitioning the entrepreneurial team for input ensures that the entrepreneur is on a consensus-driven path. This type of problem solving takes the longest to complete because the entrepreneur must engage in a democratic process that allows all members on the team to have input. The process involves exploration of alternatives for the ultimate solution. In organizational decision-making, for example, comprehensiveness is a measure of the extent a firm attempts to be inclusive or exhaustive in its decision-making. Comprehensiveness can be gauged by the number of scheduled meetings, the process by which information is sought, the process by which input is obtained from external sources, the number of employees involved, the use of specialized consultants and the functional expertise of the people involved, the years of historical data review, and the assignment of primary responsibility, among other factors. Comprehensive decision-making would be an example of a petitioner problem-solving style, as it seeks input from a vast number of team members.

A charette —a meeting to resolve conflicts and identify solutions—is another example that employs a petitioner problem-solving approach. Often times, a developer of a new project might hold a community charette to aid in the design of a project, hoping to gain approval from elected officials. In the building example, this could consist of the developer and his team of architects, project designers, and people with expertise in the project working alongside community members, business executives, elected officials, or representatives like staff members or citizen-appointed boards like a planning board. Such an activity is representative of a petitioner problem-solving approach, as opposed to a developer representative designing the project with no input from anyone else.

In summary, there is no right or wrong style of problem solving; each problem solver must rely on the instincts that best drive innovation. Further, they must remember that not all problem-solving methods work in every situation. They must be willing to adapt their own preference to the situation to maximize efficiency and ensure they find an effective solution. Attempting to force a problem-solving style may prevent an organization from finding the best solution. While general entrepreneurial problem-solving skills such as critical thinking, decisiveness, communication, and the ability to analyze data will likely be used on a regular basis in your life and entrepreneurial journey, other problem-solving skills and the approach you take will depend on the problem as it arises.

There are a number of resources online that can help analyze your problem-solving abilities. Mindtools.com is one such resource. These are useful to learn your general problem-solving tendencies before being called upon to apply them in a real-world setting. One of the problem-solving techniques available from mindtools.com offers that problems can be addressed from six different perspectives. Called CATWOE , the approach is an acronym for Customers, Actors (people within the organization), Transformative, Worldwide, Owner, and Environment (organizational).

Learn more about the CATWOE technique for problem solving.

1 Helen Lock. “‘I Put My Butt on the Line’: How Spanx Took Over the World.” The Guardian. July 11, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/jul/11/put-butt-on-the-line-how-spanx-world
2 Gary Keller. “Business Success Series, Part 1: Sara Blakely-Spanx.” The One Thing. n.d. https://www.the1thing.com/blog/the-one-thing/business-success-series-part-1-sara-blakely-spanx/
3 “Characteristics of Adaptors and Innovators.” Kirton KAI Inventory Tool . n.d. http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/ci/31/i11/html/11hipple_box3.ci.html
4 Shaun Powell. “The Management and Consumption of Organisational Creativity.” Journal of Consumer Marketing 25, no. 3 (2008): 158–166.
5 N.C Healthcare-Associated Infections Prevention Program. Healthcare-Associated Infections in North Carolina: 2014 Annual Report, Healthcare Consumer Version. April 2015. https://epi.dph.ncdhhs.gov/cd/hai/figures/hai_apr2015_consumers_annual.pdf
6 Romesh Ratnesar. “What If Instead of Taking the SAT You Got to Play a Video Game?” Bloomberg BusinessWeek. March 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-19/a-harvard-dropout-s-plan-to-fix-college-admissions-with-video-games
7 Mark Granovetter. “The Strength of Weak Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 5 (1973): 1360–1380.
8 Jacob Morgan. “Why Every Employee Should Be Building Weak Ties at Work.” Forbes. March 11, 2014. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/03/11/every-employee-weak-ties-work/#277851063168
9 John White. “Top UK Influencer Oliver Isaacs Reveals What It Takes to Go Viral.” Inc . August 6, 2017. https://www.inc.com/john-white/top-uk-influencer-oliver-isaacs-reveals-what-it-ta.html
10 Erik Larson. “How Jeff Bezos Uses Faster Better Decisions to Keep Amazon Innovating.” Forbes . September 24, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriklarson/2018/09/24/how-jeff-bezos-uses-faster-better-decisions-to-keep-amazon-innovating/#492c351b7a65
11 Stephanie Schomer. “How Getting Laid Off Empowered This Entrepreneur to Start Her Own Award-Winning Marketing Agency.” Entrepreneur. January 15, 2019. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/326212
12 Sherrie Campbell. “6 Characteristics of Resourceful People That Bring Them Success.” Entrepreneur. March 10, 2016. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/272171
13 “Resourcefulness Is More Important Than Resources.” The Ecommerce Mindset: How Successful Store Owners Think. n.d. https://www.oberlo.com/ebooks/mindset/resourceful-entrepreneur

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's permission.

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/1-introduction

Authors: Michael Laverty, Chris Littel
Publisher/website: OpenStax
Book title: Entrepreneurship
Publication date: Jan 16, 2020
Location: Houston, Texas
Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/1-introduction
Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/6-1-problem-solving-to-find-entrepreneurial-solutions

© Jan 4, 2024 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.

school Campus Bookshelves
menu_book Bookshelves
perm_media Learning Objects
login Login
how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
hub Instructor Commons

Margin Size

Download Page (PDF)
Download Full Book (PDF)
Periodic Table
Physics Constants
Scientific Calculator
Reference & Cite
Tools expand_more
Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

3.2: Problem-Solving to Find Entrepreneurial Solutions

Last updated
Save as PDF
Page ID 62755

$ \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } $

$ \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} $

$ \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}$ $ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) $ \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}$

$ \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}$ $ \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}$

$ \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}$ $ \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}$

$ \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}$

$ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$

$ \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}$

$ \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}$

$ \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}$

$ \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}$

$ \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}$

$ \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}$

$ \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}$

$ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$ $ \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}$

$ \newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}} % arrow$

$ \newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}} % arrow$

$ \newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } $

$ \newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} $

$ \newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} $

$ \newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} $

$ \newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}} $

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Define problem-solving in the context of entrepreneurship
Describe and compare the adaptive model and the innovative model of problem-solving
Identify the skills entrepreneurs need for effective problem solving
Identify types of problem solvers

As you’ve learned, entrepreneurs often visualize an opportunity gap, a gap between what exists and what could exist, as Hirabayashi and Lidey did with Shine. Entrepreneurial problem-solving is the process of using innovation and creative solutions to close that gap by resolving societal, business, or technological problems. Sometimes, personal problems can lead to entrepreneurial opportunities if validated in the market. The entrepreneur visualizes the prospect of filling the gap with an innovative solution that might entail the revision of a product or the creation of an entirely new product. In any case, the entrepreneur approaches the problem-solving process in various ways. This chapter is more about problem-solving as it pertains to the entrepreneur’s thought process and approach rather than on problem-solving in the sense of opportunity recognition and filling those gaps with new products.

For example, Sara Blakely (as shown in Figure 3.2.1) saw a need for body contouring and smoothing undergarments one day in the late 1990s when she was getting dressed for a party and couldn’t find what she needed to give her a silhouette she’d be pleased with in a pair of slacks. She saw a problem: a market need. But her problem-solving efforts are what drove her to turn her solution (Spanx undergarments) into a viable product. Those efforts came from her self-admitted can-do attitude: “It’s really important to be resourceful and scrappy—a glass-half-full mindset.” 1 Her efforts at creating a new undergarment met resistance with hosiery executives, most of whom were male and out of touch with their female consumers. The hosiery owner who decided to help Blakely initially passed on the idea until running it by his daughters and realizing she was on to something. That something became Spanx, and today, Blakely is a successful entrepreneur. 2

Before getting into the heart of this chapter, we need to make a distinction: Decision making is different from problem-solving . A decision is needed to continue or smooth a process affecting the operation of a firm. It can be intuitive or might require research and a long period of consideration. Problem-solving, however, is more direct. It entails the solution of some problem where a gap exists between a current state and a desired state. Entrepreneurs are problem solvers who offer solutions using creativity or innovative ventures that exploit opportunities. This chapter focuses on different approaches to problem-solving and need recognition that help potential entrepreneurs come up with ideas and refine those ideas.

Two Problem Solving Models: Adaptive and Innovative

There are two prominent established problem-solving models: adaptive and innovative . A renowned British psychologist, Michael Kirton, developed the Kirton Adaption-Innovation (KAI) Inventory to measure an individual’s style of problem-solving. 3 Problem-solving preferences are dependent on the personality characteristics of originality, conformity, and efficiency, according to Kirton. The KAI inventory identifies an individual’s problem-solving approach by measuring agreement with statements that align with characteristics, such as the ability to produce many novel ideas, to follow rules and get along in groups, and to systematically orient daily behavior. The results categorize an individual as an innovator or an adaptor. Innovators are highly original, do not like to conform, and value efficiency less than adaptors.

The first and more conservative approach an entrepreneur may use to solve problems is the adaptive model. The adaptive model seeks solutions for problems in ways that are tested and known to be effective. An adaptive model accepts the problem definition and is concerned with resolving problems rather than finding them. This approach seeks greater efficiency while aiming at continuity and stability. The second and more creative approach is the innovative model of entrepreneurial problem solving, which uses techniques that are unknown to the market and that bring advantage to an organization. An innovative problem-solving style challenges the problem definition, discovers problems and avenues for their solutions, and questions existing assumptions—in a nutshell, it does things differently. It uses outside-the-box thinking and searches for novel solutions. Novelty is a shared trait of creative entrepreneurship, and it’s why entrepreneurs gravitate toward this method of problem-solving. According to Dr. Shaun M. Powell, a senior lecturer at the University of Wollongong, Australia: “Creative entrepreneurs are notable for a distinctive management style that is based on intuition, informality and rapid decision making, whereas the more conventional thinking styles are not in accord with the unique attributes of creative entrepreneurs.” 4 This way of problem-solving doesn’t alter an existing product. It is the creation of something entirely new.

For example, healthcare facilities have long been known as a source of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a deadly infection that can have long-term effects on patients. Vital Vio, led by Colleen Costello, has developed white light technology that effectively disinfects healthcare facilities by targeting a molecule specific to bacteria. The light, safe to humans, can burn constantly to kill regenerative bacteria. An adaptive problem-solving model would seek to minimize harm of MRSA within a hospital—to respond to it—whereas the Vital Vio is an entirely new technique that seeks to eliminate it. Adaptive solutions to MRSA include established processes and protocols for prevention, such as having doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers clean their hands with soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub before and after patient care, testing patients to see if they have MRSA on their skin, cleaning hospital rooms and medical equipment, and washing and drying clothes and bed linens in the warmest recommended temperatures. 5

LINK TO LEARNING

Problem-Solving Skills

While identifying problems is a necessary part of the origin of the entrepreneurial process, managing problems is an entirely different aspect once a venture is off the ground and running. An entrepreneur does not have the luxury of avoiding problems and is often responsible for all problem-solving in a startup or other form of business. There are certain skills that entrepreneurs possess that make them particularly good problem solvers. Let’s examine each skill (shown in Figure 3.2.2).

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the complex analysis of a problem or issue with the goal of solving the problem or making a decision. The entrepreneur analyzes and peels away the layers of a problem to find the core of an issue facing a business. The entrepreneur focuses on the heart of the problem and responds reasonably and openly to suggestions for solving it. Critical thinking is not only important for developing entrepreneurial ideas: it is a sought-after asset in education and employment. Entrepreneur Rebecca Kantar dropped out of Harvard in 2015 to found the tech startup Imbellus, which aims to replace standardized college admissions tests like the SAT with interactive scenarios that test critical-thinking skills. Many standardized tests may include multiple-choice questions asking for the answer to a straightforward knowledge question or math problem. Kantar seeks to create tests that are more concerned with the analytic ability and reasoning that goes into the process of solving the problem. Imbellus says it aims to test “how people think,” not just what they know. The platform, which has not yet launched, will use simulations for its user assessments. 6

Read more about problem-solving and EnterpriseWorks/Vita’s story at Harvard Business Review .

Communication

Ideation exercises, such as brainstorming sessions, are good communication tools that entrepreneurs can use to generate solutions to problems. Another such tool is a hackathon —an event, usually hosted by a tech company or organization, which brings together programmers and workers with other degrees of specialization within the company, community, or organization to collaborate on a project over a short period of time. These can last from twenty-four hours to a few days over a weekend. A hackathon can be an internal company-wide initiative or an external event that brings community participants together. A business model canvas and other activities, outlined in other chapters, can be used internally or externally to identify problems and work toward creating a viable solution.

Networking is an important manifestation of useful communication. What better method is there of presenting one’s concept, gaining funding and buy-in, and marketing for the startup than through building a network of individuals willing to support your venture? A network may consist of potential employees, customers, board members, outside advisors, investors, or champions (people who just love your product) with no direct vested interest. Social networks consist of weak ties and strong ties. Sociologist Mark Granovetter studied such networks back in the 1970s, and his findings still apply today, even if we include social media networks in the definition too. Weak ties facilitate flow of information and community organization, he said, whereas strong ties represent strong connections among close friends, family members, and supportive coworkers. 7 Strong ties require more work to maintain than weak ties (as illustrated by the strong lines and weak dotted lines in Figure 3.2.3) and in a business context, they don’t lead to many new opportunities. Weak ties, in contrast, do open doors in that they act as bridges to other weak ties within functional areas or departments that you might not have had access to directly or through strong ties. 8

In fact, many young entrepreneurs, including tech entrepreneur Oliver Isaacs, realize college is a great place to begin building teams. Isaacs is the founder of viral opinion network Amirite.com, which is widely credited as the place where Internet memes started and online slang got a foothold. 9 Amirite.com consists of a large network of pages and partnerships on Facebook and Instagram that reach 15 million users each month. Isaacs recommends using your alumni network to build a team and customer base for your own venture because you never know if you’re talking to a future employee or partner.

Sharing of ideas and resources is highly valued in the entrepreneurial process. Communication is a vital skill in problem-solving because the ability to identify and articulate the problem (define the problem space) is necessary to adequately address a problem. A problem can be too vague or broad or narrow. Thus, communicating the problem is important, as is conveying the solution.

Decisiveness

Read this LinkedIn blog post on decisiveness to learn more.

Ability to Analyze Data

Data analysis is the process of analyzing data and modeling it into a structure that leads to innovative conclusions. It is one thing to amass information and statistics. It is another to make sense of that data, to use it to fill a market need or forecast a trend to come. Successful founders know how to pose questions about and make meaning out of information. And if they can’t do that themselves, they know how to bring in experts who can.

Understanding of Business and Industry

Entrepreneurs need a sound understanding of markets and industries. Often times, they are already working in a large organization when they see growth opportunities or inefficiencies in a market. The employee gains a deep understanding of the industry at hand. If the employee considers a possible solution for a problem, this solution might become the basis for a new business.

A similar experience occurred for entrepreneur Katie Witkin. After working in traditional marketing roles, the University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, pictured in Figure 3.2.4, left agency life behind four years out of college to cofound her own company, AGW Group. In 2009, Witkin had been interning at a music marketing agency that didn’t have a social media department. She knew, both from her time at college and from observing industry trends, that social media was changing the way companies connected with customers. For her own venture, she expanded the focus to all supporting brands to manage all things digital. Today, the cultural and marketing communications agency has fifteen employees and big-name clients ranging from HBO to Red Bull. 11

Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness is the ability to discover clever solutions to obstacles. Sherrie Campbell, a psychologist, author, and frequent contributor to Entrepreneur magazine on business topics, put it this way: “There is not a more useful or important trait to possess than resourcefulness in the pursuit of success. Resourcefulness is a mindset, and is especially relevant when the goals you have set are difficult to achieve or you cannot envision a clear path to get to where you desire to go. With a resourcefulness mindset you are driven to find a way. An attitude of resourcefulness inspires out-of-the-box thinking, the generation of new ideas, and the ability to visualize all the possible ways to achieve what you desire. Resourcefulness turns you into a scrappy, inventive, and enterprising entrepreneur. It places you a cut above the rest.” 12

Entrepreneurs start thinking about a business venture or startup by talking to people and procuring experts to help create, fund, and begin a business. Entrepreneurs are risk-takers, passionate about new endeavors. If they don’t have a college degree or a great deal of business experience, they understand there are many resources available to support them in the endeavor, such as the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). There are many sources available to fund the business with little or no debt and options. The entrepreneur follows a vision and researches opportunities to move toward a dream.

Types of Problem-Solvers

Entrepreneurs have an insatiable appetite for problem-solving. This drive motivates them to find a resolution when a gap in a product or service occurs. They recognize opportunities and take advantage of them. There are several types of entrepreneurial problem solvers, including self-regulators, theorists, and petitioners.

Self-Regulating Problem-Solvers

Self-regulating problem solvers are autonomous and work on their own without external influence. They have the ability to see a problem, visualize a possible solution to the problem, and seek to devise a solution, as Figure 3.2.5 illustrates. The solution may be a risk, but a self-regulating problem solver will recognize, evaluate, and mitigate the risk. For example, an entrepreneur has programmed a computerized process for a client, but in testing it, finds the program continually falls into a loop, meaning it gets stuck in a cycle and doesn’t progress. Rather than wait for the client to find the problem, the entrepreneur searches the code for the error causing the loop, immediately edits it, and delivers the corrected program to the customer. There is immediate analysis, immediate correction, and immediate implementation. The self-regulating problem solvers’ biggest competitive advantage is the speed with which they recognize and provide solutions to problems.

Theorist Problem Solvers

Theorist problem-solvers see a problem and begin to consider a path toward solving the problem using a theory. Theorist problem solvers are process-oriented and systematic. While managers may start with a problem and focus on an outcome with little consideration of a means to an end, entrepreneurs may see a problem and begin to build a path with what is known, a theory, toward an outcome. That is, the entrepreneur proceeds through the steps to solve the problem and then builds on the successes, rejects the failures, and works toward the outcome by experimenting and building on known results. At this point, the problem solver may not know the outcome, but a solution will arise as experiments toward a solution occur. Figure 3.2.6 shows this process.

Petitioner Problem-Solvers

Petitioner problem-solvers (Figure 3.2.7) see a problem and ask others for solution ideas. This entrepreneur likes to consult a person who has “been there and done that.” The petitioner might also prefer to solve the problem in a team environment. Petitioning the entrepreneurial team for input ensures that the entrepreneur is on a consensus-driven path. This type of problem-solving takes the longest to complete because the entrepreneur must engage in a democratic process that allows all members on the team to have input. The process involves exploration of alternatives for the ultimate solution. In organizational decision-making, for example, comprehensiveness is a measure of the extent a firm attempts to be inclusive or exhaustive in its decision-making. Comprehensiveness can be gauged by the number of scheduled meetings, the process by which information is sought, the process by which input is obtained from external sources, the number of employees involved, the use of specialized consultants and the functional expertise of the people involved, the years of historical data review, and the assignment of primary responsibility, among other factors. Comprehensive decision-making would be an example of a petitioner problem-solving style, as it seeks input from a vast number of team members.

In summary, there is no right or wrong style of problem-solving; each problem solver must rely on the instincts that best drive innovation. Further, they must remember that not all problem-solving methods work in every situation. They must be willing to adapt their own preference to the situation to maximize efficiency and ensure they find an effective solution. Attempting to force a problem-solving style may prevent an organization from finding the best solution. While general entrepreneurial problem-solving skills such as critical thinking, decisiveness, communication, and the ability to analyze data will likely be used on a regular basis in your life and entrepreneurial journey, other problem-solving skills and the approach you take will depend on the problem as it arises.

There are a number of resources online that can help analyze your problem-solving abilities. Mindtools.com is one such resource. These are useful to learn your general problem-solving tendencies before being called upon to apply them in a real-world setting. One of the problem-solving techniques available from mindtools.com offers that problems can be addressed from six different perspectives. Called CATWOE, the approach is an acronym for Customers, Actors (people within the organization), Transformative, Worldwide, Owner, and Environment (organizational).

Learn more about the CATWOE technique for problem-solving.

Where Entrepreneurs Find Inspiration

Ideas and Research from Stanford University

Entrepreneurship as Problem-Solving

Spotify Co-Founder Daniel Ek shares his very early experiences with entrepreneurship, which came about due to a need to solve problems. Ek also provides his definition of an entrepreneur, as “someone that has an itch for a problem, and is annoyed enough by that problem to seek a solution for it.”

Video clips from: A Playlist for Entrepreneurs [Entire Talk]

Execution is 95 percent, the big, hairy, audacious goal of spotify, solving a world of product problems, leading distributed teams, don't say yes to everything, opportunities in sensors and smart devices, product innovations can reduce piracy.

relationship between problem solving and entrepreneurship

The Ethics of Innovation [Entire Talk]

Video clips.

Leadership in a Digital World

The duty of digital leaders, ethics in emerging technologies, disproportionate job displacement.

A Brainy Approach to Innovation [Entire Talk]

Embodying Innovation

Mind control of machines, pivoting toward impact, automating legal consulting, confessions of a ‘cyber-optimist'.

Taking a Lead From Tech [Entire Talk]

‘What Would Different Look Like?'

Realities of startup life, essential but unsung skills, a blank invitation, choose your peers wisely.

Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Critical Overview of Issues and Challenges

Conference paper
First Online: 17 August 2017
Cite this conference paper

Peter P. Groumpos 13

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 754))

Included in the following conference series:

Conference on Creativity in Intelligent Technologies and Data Science

1392 Accesses

1 Citations

Creativity in intelligent technologies & data science is recognized as a growing and challenging scientific field. Additional concepts of Innovation and Entrepreneurship are examined and their important role in developing theories and technologies for intelligent systems and data science is shown. The Triangle of Knowledge that contains all these concepts is presented and analyzed. The role of human intelligence in developing Intelligent Control and Cognitive Control is analyzed. The need for developing an Intelligent Cognitive Control Theory as a new unified theory is emphasized.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Available as PDF
Read on any device
Instant download
Own it forever
Available as EPUB and PDF
Compact, lightweight edition
Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Edwards-Schachter, M., García-Granero, A., Sánchez-Barrioluengo, M., Quesada-Pineda, H., Amara, N.: Disentangling competences: Interrelationships on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Think. Skills Creat. 16 , 27–39 (2015)

Article Google Scholar

Amabile, T.M.: A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. Res. Organ. Behav. 10 , 123–167 (1988). JAI Press Inc.

Google Scholar

Yusuf, S.: From creativity to innovation. Technol. Soc. 31 (1), 1–8 (2007)

Okpara, F.O.: The value of creativity and innovation in entrepreneurship. J. Asia Entrep. Sustain. 3 (2), 1–14 (2007)

Groumpos, P.P.: An overview of the triangle of knowledge as a driving force for sustainable growth in developing nations. IFAC Proc. 46 (8), 106–115 (2013)

Kirkham, R.L.: Does the Gettier problem rest on a mistake? Mind 93 (372), 501–513 (1984)

Guilford, J.P.: Creativity. Am. Psychol. 5 (9), 444–454 (1950)

Rhodes, M.: An analysis of creativity. Phi Delta Kappan 42 (7), 306–307N (1961)

Hacking, I.: Why Does Language Matter to Philosophy?. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1975)

Book Google Scholar

Eddy, M.D.: The shape of knowledge: children and the visual culture of literacy and numeracy. Sci. Context 26 (2), 215–245 (2013)

Bondy, J.A., Murty, U.S.R.: Graph Theory. Graduate texts in Mathematics, vol. 244. Springer, New York (2008)

MATH Google Scholar

Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., Aaron-Courville, A.: Deep Learning. MIT Press, Cambridge (2016)

Gareth, J., Witten, D., Hastie, T., Tibshirani, R.: An Introduction to Statistical Learning: With Applications in R, 1st edn. Springer, New York (2016). Corr. 6th printing 2016 Edition

Groumpos, P.P.: Conceptual modeling and decision making support systems for complex dynamical systems: a critical overview. In: ELEKTRO, pp. 52–56. IEEE (2016)

Grant, A.M., Ashford, S.J.: The dynamics of proactivity at work. Res. Organ. Behav. 28 , 3–34 (2008)

Ilgen, D.R., Pulakos, E.D.: Introduction: employee performance in today’s organizations. In: Ilgen, D.R., Pulakos, E.D. (eds.) The changing nature of performance, pp. 1–18. Consulting Psychologists Press, San Francisco (1999)

Technical Committee on Intelligent Control. IEEE Control Systems Society. http://robotics.ee.nus.edu.sg/tcic/

Anderson, J.R., Bothell, D., Byrne, M.D., Douglass, S., Lebiere, C., Qin, Y.: An integrated theory of the mind. Psychol. Rev. 111 (4), 1036–1060 (2004)

Kawamura, K., Gordon, S.: From intelligent control to cognitive control. In: 11th International Symposium on Robotics and Applications (ISORA), Budapest, Hungary, 24–27 July 2006, pp. 1–8 (2006)

Botvinick, M.M., Braver, T.S., Barch, D.M., Carter, C.S., Cohen, J.D.: Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychol. Rev. 108 (3), 624–652 (2001)

Schmidhuber, J.: Deep learning in neural networks: an overview. Neural Netw. 61 , 85–117 (2015)

Domingos, P.: A few useful things to know about machine learning. Commun. ACM 55 (10), 78–87 (2012)

Arel, I., Rose, D.C., Karnowski, T.P.: Deep machine learning-a new frontier in artificial intelligence research [research frontier]. IEEE Comput. Intell. Mag. 5 (4), 13–18 (2010)

Braver, T.S., Gray, J.R., Burgess, G.: Explaining the many varieties of working memory variation: dual mechanisms of cognitive control. In: Conway, A.R.A., Jarrold, C., Kane, M.J., Miyake, A., Towse, J.N. (eds.) Variation in Working Memory, pp. 76–106. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2007)

Groumpos, P.P.: Deep learning vs. Wise learning: a critical and challenging overview. IFAC-PapersOnLine 49 (29), 180–189 (2016)

Article MathSciNet Google Scholar

Kosko, B.: Fuzzy cognitive maps. Int. J. Man Mach. Stud. 24 (1), 65–75 (1986)

Article MATH Google Scholar

Groumpos, P.P.: Fuzzy cognitive maps basic theories and their application to complex systems. In: Glykas, M. (ed.) Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, pp. 1–22. Springer, Heidelberg (2010). doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-03220-2_1

Download references

Acknowledgment

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Mrs. Alexandra Lotsari-Groumpos for her encouragement and assisting in developing this paper as well as many thanks for editing the final version of the paper.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Laboratory for Automation and Robotics, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 26500, Patras, Greece

Peter P. Groumpos

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter P. Groumpos .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Volgograd State Technical University, Volgograd, Russia

Alla Kravets

Maxim Shcherbakov

Marina Kultsova

University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Peter Groumpos

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this paper

Cite this paper.

Groumpos, P.P. (2017). Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Critical Overview of Issues and Challenges. In: Kravets, A., Shcherbakov, M., Kultsova, M., Groumpos, P. (eds) Creativity in Intelligent Technologies and Data Science. CIT&DS 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 754. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65551-2_1

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65551-2_1

Published : 17 August 2017

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-319-65550-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-319-65551-2

eBook Packages : Computer Science Computer Science (R0)

Share this paper

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Find a journal
Track your research

Business Essentials
Leadership & Management
Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB)
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Digital Transformation
Finance & Accounting
Business in Society
For Organizations
Support Portal
Media Coverage
Founding Donors
Leadership Team

Harvard Business School →
HBS Online →
Business Insights →

Business Insights

Harvard Business School Online's Business Insights Blog provides the career insights you need to achieve your goals and gain confidence in your business skills.

Career Development
Communication
Decision-Making
Earning Your MBA
Negotiation
News & Events
Productivity
Staff Spotlight
Student Profiles
Work-Life Balance
AI Essentials for Business
Alternative Investments
Business Analytics
Business Strategy
Business and Climate Change
Design Thinking and Innovation
Digital Marketing Strategy
Disruptive Strategy
Economics for Managers
Entrepreneurship Essentials
Financial Accounting
Global Business
Launching Tech Ventures
Leadership Principles
Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability
Leading Change and Organizational Renewal
Leading with Finance
Management Essentials
Negotiation Mastery
Organizational Leadership
Power and Influence for Positive Impact
Strategy Execution
Sustainable Business Strategy
Sustainable Investing
Winning with Digital Platforms

What Is Creative Problem-Solving & Why Is It Important?

Business team using creative problem-solving

01 Feb 2022

One of the biggest hindrances to innovation is complacency—it can be more comfortable to do what you know than venture into the unknown. Business leaders can overcome this barrier by mobilizing creative team members and providing space to innovate.

There are several tools you can use to encourage creativity in the workplace. Creative problem-solving is one of them, which facilitates the development of innovative solutions to difficult problems.

Here’s an overview of creative problem-solving and why it’s important in business.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Creative Problem-Solving?

Research is necessary when solving a problem. But there are situations where a problem’s specific cause is difficult to pinpoint. This can occur when there’s not enough time to narrow down the problem’s source or there are differing opinions about its root cause.

In such cases, you can use creative problem-solving , which allows you to explore potential solutions regardless of whether a problem has been defined.

Creative problem-solving is less structured than other innovation processes and encourages exploring open-ended solutions. It also focuses on developing new perspectives and fostering creativity in the workplace . Its benefits include:

Finding creative solutions to complex problems : User research can insufficiently illustrate a situation’s complexity. While other innovation processes rely on this information, creative problem-solving can yield solutions without it.
Adapting to change : Business is constantly changing, and business leaders need to adapt. Creative problem-solving helps overcome unforeseen challenges and find solutions to unconventional problems.
Fueling innovation and growth : In addition to solutions, creative problem-solving can spark innovative ideas that drive company growth. These ideas can lead to new product lines, services, or a modified operations structure that improves efficiency.

Design Thinking and Innovation | Uncover creative solutions to your business problems | Learn More

Creative problem-solving is traditionally based on the following key principles :

1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Creative problem-solving uses two primary tools to find solutions: divergence and convergence. Divergence generates ideas in response to a problem, while convergence narrows them down to a shortlist. It balances these two practices and turns ideas into concrete solutions.

2. Reframe Problems as Questions

By framing problems as questions, you shift from focusing on obstacles to solutions. This provides the freedom to brainstorm potential ideas.

3. Defer Judgment of Ideas

When brainstorming, it can be natural to reject or accept ideas right away. Yet, immediate judgments interfere with the idea generation process. Even ideas that seem implausible can turn into outstanding innovations upon further exploration and development.

4. Focus on "Yes, And" Instead of "No, But"

Using negative words like "no" discourages creative thinking. Instead, use positive language to build and maintain an environment that fosters the development of creative and innovative ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving and Design Thinking

Whereas creative problem-solving facilitates developing innovative ideas through a less structured workflow, design thinking takes a far more organized approach.

Design thinking is a human-centered, solutions-based process that fosters the ideation and development of solutions. In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase framework to explain design thinking.

The four stages are:

The four stages of design thinking: clarify, ideate, develop, and implement

Clarify: The clarification stage allows you to empathize with the user and identify problems. Observations and insights are informed by thorough research. Findings are then reframed as problem statements or questions.
Ideate: Ideation is the process of coming up with innovative ideas. The divergence of ideas involved with creative problem-solving is a major focus.
Develop: In the development stage, ideas evolve into experiments and tests. Ideas converge and are explored through prototyping and open critique.
Implement: Implementation involves continuing to test and experiment to refine the solution and encourage its adoption.

Creative problem-solving primarily operates in the ideate phase of design thinking but can be applied to others. This is because design thinking is an iterative process that moves between the stages as ideas are generated and pursued. This is normal and encouraged, as innovation requires exploring multiple ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving Tools

While there are many useful tools in the creative problem-solving process, here are three you should know:

Creating a Problem Story

One way to innovate is by creating a story about a problem to understand how it affects users and what solutions best fit their needs. Here are the steps you need to take to use this tool properly.

1. Identify a UDP

Create a problem story to identify the undesired phenomena (UDP). For example, consider a company that produces printers that overheat. In this case, the UDP is "our printers overheat."

2. Move Forward in Time

To move forward in time, ask: “Why is this a problem?” For example, minor damage could be one result of the machines overheating. In more extreme cases, printers may catch fire. Don't be afraid to create multiple problem stories if you think of more than one UDP.

3. Move Backward in Time

To move backward in time, ask: “What caused this UDP?” If you can't identify the root problem, think about what typically causes the UDP to occur. For the overheating printers, overuse could be a cause.

Following the three-step framework above helps illustrate a clear problem story:

The printer is overused.
The printer overheats.
The printer breaks down.

You can extend the problem story in either direction if you think of additional cause-and-effect relationships.

4. Break the Chains

By this point, you’ll have multiple UDP storylines. Take two that are similar and focus on breaking the chains connecting them. This can be accomplished through inversion or neutralization.

Inversion: Inversion changes the relationship between two UDPs so the cause is the same but the effect is the opposite. For example, if the UDP is "the more X happens, the more likely Y is to happen," inversion changes the equation to "the more X happens, the less likely Y is to happen." Using the printer example, inversion would consider: "What if the more a printer is used, the less likely it’s going to overheat?" Innovation requires an open mind. Just because a solution initially seems unlikely doesn't mean it can't be pursued further or spark additional ideas.
Neutralization: Neutralization completely eliminates the cause-and-effect relationship between X and Y. This changes the above equation to "the more or less X happens has no effect on Y." In the case of the printers, neutralization would rephrase the relationship to "the more or less a printer is used has no effect on whether it overheats."

Even if creating a problem story doesn't provide a solution, it can offer useful context to users’ problems and additional ideas to be explored. Given that divergence is one of the fundamental practices of creative problem-solving, it’s a good idea to incorporate it into each tool you use.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a tool that can be highly effective when guided by the iterative qualities of the design thinking process. It involves openly discussing and debating ideas and topics in a group setting. This facilitates idea generation and exploration as different team members consider the same concept from multiple perspectives.

Hosting brainstorming sessions can result in problems, such as groupthink or social loafing. To combat this, leverage a three-step brainstorming method involving divergence and convergence :

Have each group member come up with as many ideas as possible and write them down to ensure the brainstorming session is productive.
Continue the divergence of ideas by collectively sharing and exploring each idea as a group. The goal is to create a setting where new ideas are inspired by open discussion.
Begin the convergence of ideas by narrowing them down to a few explorable options. There’s no "right number of ideas." Don't be afraid to consider exploring all of them, as long as you have the resources to do so.

Alternate Worlds

The alternate worlds tool is an empathetic approach to creative problem-solving. It encourages you to consider how someone in another world would approach your situation.

For example, if you’re concerned that the printers you produce overheat and catch fire, consider how a different industry would approach the problem. How would an automotive expert solve it? How would a firefighter?

Be creative as you consider and research alternate worlds. The purpose is not to nail down a solution right away but to continue the ideation process through diverging and exploring ideas.

Which HBS Online Entrepreneurship and Innovation Course is Right for You? | Download Your Free Flowchart

Continue Developing Your Skills

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, learning the ropes of design thinking can be an effective way to build your skills and foster creativity and innovation in any setting.

If you're ready to develop your design thinking and creative problem-solving skills, explore Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

About the Author

Open access
Published: 05 February 2018

The role of problem solving ability on innovative behavior and opportunity recognition in university students

Ji Young Kim 1 ,
Dae Soo Choi 1 ,
Chang-Soo Sung 1 &
Joo Y. Park 2

Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity volume 4 , Article number: 4 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

25k Accesses

32 Citations

1 Altmetric

Metrics details

Universities engage in entrepreneurship education to increase social value creation, through students’ new opportunities recognition. However, there are not enough of empirical researches on whether the current entrepreneurship education can be differentiated from other curriculum to improve the opportunity recognition process. This study argues that it is very important for cognitive abilities to be manifested as behavior when students in university are new opportunities recognition. For this purpose, the relationship between problem solving ability, innovation behavior, and opportunity perception was verified empirically. This study was conducted on 203 students who took entrepreneurship education courses at Korean universities. The results of this study showed that problem solving ability positively influenced innovation behavior and opportunity perception. Innovation behavior was identified as a key parameter that partially mediated the relationship between problem solving ability and innovation behavior. The implication of this study is to prove the relationship between individual ‘s problem - solving ability considering the characteristics of education in Korea and the opportunity through innovative behavior and various learning strategies to help entrepreneurship education to design better courses for the future It has important implications for strategic pedagogy that can enhance behavioral elements in development.

It is the new opportunity recognition that all firms focus on for a new economic paradigm (Ancona and Caldwell, 1992 ). Recognizing high opportunities can significantly improve profit, growth, and / or competitive positioning. And this new opportunity leads to innovation. From a conceptual point of view, research is continuing on the question of ‘what is opportunity’ and ‘where is opportunity’ (Gartner and Carter, 2003 ; Venkataraman & Sarasvathy, 2001 ). Research on the discovery and realization of new opportunities is a very important research area that suggests how to discover and utilize creative opportunities that create new value and profit for pre-service workers, and is the ultimate goal of entrepreneurship education. (Kim et al., 2016 ). Particularly, there is a lot of debate about the relationship between opportunity perception and personal characteristics. Despite many arguments, however, research on individual characteristics and opportunity perceptions is still insufficient, and a unified opinion has not been created due to differences between cognitive and behavioral theories (Ko & Butler, 2003 ). In particular, there is much controversy over the relationship between opportunity recognition and personal traits, and research has been continuing to demonstrate that organizational learning in organizations can influence opportunity recognition (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000 ). In particular, learning enhances cognitive ability, which is an opportunity that leads to opportunity recognition through the manifestation of behavior (Lumpkin and Dess, 2004 ). Many studies have also demonstrated the difference in behavior that successful entrepreneurs see as contributing to their ability to recognize opportunities and create innovative business ideas (Dyer et al., 2008 ; Kim et al., 2017 ). For example, Alvarez and Barney ( 2005 ) argue for mountain climbing and mountain building to understand the implications of entrepreneurial behavior in relation to these theories. In other words, a new opportunity for entrepreneurs is not a passive case that is generally found and climbed by climbers such as mountains, but rather by the actions of entrepreneurs, creating competition for the market, creating another market, Is the same. Therefore, in order for a person’s cognitive ability to recognize a new opportunity, it must focus on manifesting an action that can realize an innovative idea. In this regard, Kanter ( 1988 ) proved the relationship between new opportunity recognition and those with innovative tendencies and regarded this new opportunity recognition as innovation activity through organizational education. Scott and Bruce ( 1994 ) have integrated a number of research flows into innovation pioneers to develop and test individual innovative behavioral models. In particular, they argued that individual problem-solving styles are very important to induce innovative behavior. Although there are a number of studies on problem solving ability, innovation behavior, and new opportunities, most of the opportunistic researches have been conducted in organizational units of companies. Is still insufficient. Furthermore, unified opinions were not created due to differences between cognitive theory and behavioral theory (Ko & Butler, 2003 ). It is also true that the effects of entrepreneurship education in university have not been studied empirically because they are mainly focused on promoting cognitive ability and applied to various kinds of teaching methods.

This study argues that it is very important for cognitive abilities to be manifested as behavior that. “Through” courses, In other words, it is very important to induce students to act through ‘learning through process’ learning through behavioral learning by providing students with some (virtual or real) business to start doing some of the actions of the entrepreneur. When students in university are new opportunity recognition. Especially, entrepreneurship education, which ultimately focuses on whether it is a new opportunity, is very important to induce behavior through behavior learning beyond the cognitive ability as the general education curriculum. Particularly, innovative behaviors that create and realize innovative ideas are very important for new opportunity recognition (Paine & Organ, 2000 ).In order to achieve this, various kinds of teaching methods are being pursued in the university, but studies on the effectiveness of behavioral learning have not been studied yet. In this study, we are based on team-based learning among various teaching methods for behavior learning that leads to innovative behaviors. Team learning instructional activity sequence designed by Michaelsen and Sweet ( 2008 ), the most well known team-based learning in entrepreneurship education as in class-primarily group work and outside class-primarily individual work. In this way, we demonstrate empirically the relationship between individual problem solving ability and opportunity through innovative behavior, and develop a variety of learning strategies that help entrepreneurship education to design better courses for the future. I would like to point out some implications for strategic pedagogy to increase the element.

The paper proceeds as follows: Initially we present the theory of innovative behavior with individual problem-solving ability, innovative behavior and opportunity recognition. We develop hypotheses to confirm its basic predictions in the student context. Finally, we link the findings with the wider social effect of entrepreneurship literature and highlight the theoretical contributions and practical implications.

Theoretical background

‘opportunity recognition’ as entrepreneurship education unit of analysis.

A commonly focused analysis in entrepreneurship research over the last 30 years has been the ‘opportunity’, most simply defined as any situation in which new products or services can be development of production (Casson, 1982 ; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000 ; Venkataraman, 1997 ). The definition of opportunity recognition is defined in many ways, but opportunity is defined as a perceived means of generating economic value (ie, profit) that has not been exploited previously and is not currently exploited by others. If opportunity is defined in this way, opportunity recognition can be defined as a cognitive process (or process) that concludes that an individual has identified an opportunity (Baron and Ensley, 2006 ). Kirzner ( 1997 ) pointed out that the distribution of information in society affects the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities and that only a few individuals can identify and recognize specific opportunities in the market. The process of finding opportunities also depends on the individual’s ability and discovery (Stevenson & Gumpert, 1985 ). For example, people may miss opportunities due to a lack of cognitive ability to change external environments (Stevenson & Gumpert, 1985 ). Only those who recognize and value the existence of opportunity can benefit from new opportunities (Ardichvili et al., 2003a , b ; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000 ). Opportunity recognition is an early step in transforming value into a business concept that creates value and generates revenue and distinguishes it from the aggressive stages of detailed assessment and development of recognized opportunities and potential economic value. The focus of the new venture business is also an innovative opportunity to create new opportunities rather than merely expanding or repeating existing business models (Gaglio & Katz, 2001 ). As a result, universities need to make use of a variety of initiatives to educate students to recognize innovative opportunities. Therefore, entrepreneurship education aimed at a new opportunity recognition should be able to provide learning opportunities based on various theories of favorable conditions for new business creation and the types of traits required for new ventures (Garavan & O’Cinne’ide, 1994 ).

Based on these considerations, we also define opportunity recognition as the formation of beliefs that can be translated into actions in order to understand the signals of change (new information on new conditions) and respond to these changes.

Problem-solving ability and innovative behavior of education for students

Problem-solving abilities have been proven to be one of the key factors for success in organizations and personal careers (Anderson & Anderson 1995 ). Through decades of research data, organizations and schools have studied factors that affect improvement. Problem-solving abilities are defined in a number of prior studies, and problem-solving abilities in a volatile and sophisticated knowledge- and technology-based industry are an important ability to drive innovation and sustainable growth and development in the industry. Table 1 show the concept of problem solving ability defined in previous research.

There have been a number of previous studies, emphasis has been placed on the importance and meaning of rational problem-solving processes in order to improve problem-solving abilities, and research has focused on individual problem solving styles (Woodman et al., 1993 ; Scott & Bruce, 1994 ). According to the personal innovation behavior model of Scott and Bruce ( 1994 ), climate has shown individual innovative behavior as a result of individuals signaling the organization’s expectations of behavior and the potential consequences of action. Innovative organizations are, last but not least, equipment, facilities and time, including the direction of creativity and innovative change (Kanter, 1983 ; Siegel & Kaemmerer, 1978 ) Proper supply of such resources is important to innovation (Amabile, 1988 ; Van de Ven & Angle, 1989 ; Dubickis & Gaile-Sarkane, 2017 ). Based on a study of Koestler’s ( 1964 ) creative thinking, Jabri conceptualized a problem-solving style consisting of two independent thinking styles. He uses a structured problem-solving styles that is based on associative thinking, follows a set of rules, resolves reasonably logically, and uses an intuitive problem-solving ability that focuses on problem-solving, not tied to existing rules with multiple ideas. Intuitive problem solving styles tend to process information from different paradigms simultaneously. It is therefore more likely to create new problem solutions as possible (Isaksen, 1987 ; Kirton, 1976 ). However, style assessment is not desirable because the style of problem solving affects style differently depending on the individual problem-solving situations (Scott & Bruce, 1994 ). We are proposing a role for the University to encourage innovative behavior based on the individuality of our students in order to recognize new opportunities through education about Scott and Bruce’s innovative behavioral models and diverse entrepreneurship education approaches. And involvement of resources, such as entrepreneurship awareness programs, ultimately leads to the identification of individual characteristics and innovation. In addition, current Korean entrepreneurship education is mainly focused on cognitive learning to improve problem solving ability, and one aspect of cognitive learning plays an important role in learning process of new venture firms. This study has a more direct focus on behavior learning such as team-based learning.

Hypothesis development

Problem-solving ability and innovative behavior.

Problem solving is to discover knowledge and skills that reach the target country by interfering with a set of processes and goals where the solution is unknown, unfamiliar, or reaching a new state of goal (Jonassen, 2004 ; Inkinen, 2015 ). There are various approaches to solve this problem. To solve problems and improve problem solving with a successful solution experience, you should adopt the method that best suits your problem solution. You need to select the appropriate inputs for the solution elements and a flexible process structure. Problem solving ability has been recognized as a key element of innovative behavior in responding to rapid changes with the ability to find various alternatives and predict outcomes from these alternatives to maximize positive results, minimize negative consequences, and select solutions to problems (Barron & Harrington, 1981 ; Jabri, 1991 ; Kirton, 1976 ). We pose the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: Individual problem-solving ability has an effect on the innovative behavior of students.

Innovative behavior and opportunity recognition

Innovation involves introducing ideas from outside the organization, through creative processes, and linking these ideas to products or processes. Many scholars studying innovation recognize that designing ideas is only one step in the innovation process (Kanter, 1988 ). Innovation is changing at the organizational or individual level. Kanter, Scott and Bruce defined personal innovation. In other words, an innovation act starts with recognition of a problem, adoption of a new idea, or creation of a solution, and an individual with an innovative tendency wants to create a realistically realizable group with the sympathy of such an idea. Innovative individuals create prototypes for innovations that enable ideas to be realized specifically with goods or services and become productive use and social day merchandising. According to previous studies, opportunity perception can be seen as an individual’s corporate strategy that focuses on the perception and exploitation of individuals about potential business ideas and opportunities and finds resources to create innovative outcomes (Manev et al., 2005 ). New Venture Ideas (NVI) are imaginary combinations of product/service offerings; potential markets or users, and means of bringing these offerings into existence (Davidsson, 2015 ). From the viewpoint of a potential entrepreneur like a university student, entrepreneurship starts with an idea. This process continues with a range of practices including attractiveness and feasibility of an idea, gathering information to minimize value-related uncertainty and possibility and perhaps the main idea’s conformity ratio in terms of newly discovered needs (Hayton & Cholakova, 2012 ). Earlier we proposed that the program as a whole increases the students’ innovative behavior and that innovative performance is the new venture ideas. Since it is logical to assume that the relationship between innovative behavior and opportunity recognition. We pose the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 2: Innovative behavior will be a more potent inducer of opportunity recognition.

Problem-solving ability and opportunity recognition

Among the many factors influencing opportunity perception, the problems that arise in the fourth industry, the knowledge-based industry of the twenty-first century, are unpredictable and unstructured; they cannot be solved with existing solutions and require creative problem-solving skills. In order to determine how to solve problem situations that are different from the current situation and have unknown results, problems are solved through the process of adjusting previous experience, knowledge, and intuition (Charles & Lester, 1982 ). Experience, knowledge, and intuition are applied simultaneously to a single problem, not individually or collectively, and the intellectual and creative results that can be quickly and effectively solved in problem solving are seen as problem solving abilities (Ardichvili et al., 2003a , b ). Empirical studies of problem-solving abilities and opportunity perceptions have provided strong evidence that there is a positive relationship between theoretical integrative processes and corporate opportunity recognition (Ucbasaran et al., 2009 ). Therefore, we hypothesized that:

Hypothesis 3: Problem solving ability has an effect on the opportunity recognition.

The respondents for this study were randomly selected from three universities in Korea. Most of the respondents in this study were Korean university students who experienced team-based learning during behavioral learning through entrepreneurship education. Since then, we have been guided by two main criteria when choosing these universities. First, students who take entrepreneurship courses are critical to their innovation behavior. This led us to realize that innovative behavior is an important factor in an individual’s survival and growth. The second is that the parallel process of theoretical and behavioral learning is highly satisfied. A pilot study was conducted to verify the reliability and validity of the research measurements with 28 students at a university. The results of the pilot study showed high clarity and reliability (Cronbach ‘s alphas were all above 0.70) of the research measurements. The sample of the pilot study was not incorporated in the present study.

This study was conducted in a four - year undergraduate course (various majors) that took entrepreneurship courses in Korea university programs. Students in this course have a mix of students who have previously experienced entrepreneurship and those who have not. During the course, students were taught the theoretical lessons for 8 weeks and the team for the 8 weeks. The questionnaire was administered during the last week of the course.

The data were analyzed from 203 participants, out of a total of 209, of which 7 were not appropriate. Of the 203 participants, 27% were female and 73% were male and the grade distribution was 3% for freshmen, 12% for grade 2, 26% for grade 2, and 59% for grade 2. The main distribution is 26% in social science, 16% in business and economics, 39% in engineering, 11% in music and athletics and 7% in others (see Table 2 ).

Measurement

The structure of the model was measured by questionnaires (problem-solving ability, innovation behavior and opportunity recognition questionnaire) consisting of the scale taken from questionnaires verified in previous studies. Tool selection was performed on two criteria. First, the selected tool should measure the same structure (ie, the original measured structure had to be conceptually identical to the way the structure was defined in this study model). Secondly, the psychometric qualities of the instrument for the student had to be high.

Assessment of the factors was carried out through principal component analyses (varimax rotation with eigenvalues of 1.0 or above) of the scales connected to the same level of the model to confirm the uniqueness of the scales with respect to each other. This was supplemented by the computation of the internal consistency reliability of the scales (Cronbach’s α). These analyses were executed using the individual participants’ responses (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994 ).

Problem- solving ability was measured on a 7-point Likert-scale (1 = ‘completely disagree’; 7 = ‘completely agree’). Jabri ( 1991 ) used a measurement tool to measure individual problem solving ability.

Innovative behavior was measured on a 7-point Likert-scale (1 = ‘completely disagree’; 7 = ‘completely agree’). In order to measure innovation behavior, we modified the questionnaire items to fit the intention of this study among the questionnaire items used by Scott and Bruce ( 1994 ) and Kim and Rho ( 2010 ).

Opportunity recognition was measured on a 7-point Likert-scale (1 = ‘completely disagree’; 7 = ‘completely agree’). In order to measure opportunity recognition, we modified the questionnaire items to fit the intention of this study among the questionnaire items used by Kim and Rho ( 2010 ).

Methods of analysis

The first two parts of the analysis were primarily based on (multiple) regression analyses. The last part of the analysis was informed through the path analyses. The adequacy of the models was assessed by AMOS 18(Arbuckle & Wothke, 2003 ). Models were all tested with standardized coefficients obtained from the Principal Component Analysis. To ascertain the model fit, we analyzed the comparative fit index (CFI), the normed fit index (NFI), the Root Mean Square Err of Approximation (RMSEA), the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) and the chi-square test statistic.

Reliability and validity are essential psychometrics to be reported. The first step to evaluate those aspects was to use the Cronbach’s alpha and the composite reliability to test reliability of the proposed scales. The usual threshold level is 0.7 for newly developed measures (Fornell and Larcker, 1981 ). Values range from 0.69 to 0.79 in the case of Cronbach’s alpha, and from 0.85 to 0.92 in the case of composite reliability (see Table 3 ). Therefore, these scales may be considered as reliable. Next, we estimated the research model, displayed in Fig. 1 , using structural equation modeling (SEM) and AMOS 18 (Arbuckle & Wothke, 2003 ). Our analysis revealed an adequate measurement model with high factor loadings for all the items on the expected factors and communalities of each item exceeding 0.50. We discuss three fit indices that are generally considered as important (Hu & Bentler, 1998 ). First, the CFI-value represents the overall difference between observed and predicted correlations. A value of 0.04 which is situated well below the cut-off value of 0.08, suggests that the hypothesized model resembles the actual correlations. Secondly, Bentler’s CFI (comparative fit index) greater than 0.90 and 0.95 which is above the cut-off of 0.90 (Schumacker & Lomax, 1996 ). Thirdly, NFI greater greater than 0.90 and 0.95 which is above the cut-off of 0.90 (Schumacker & Lomax, 1996 ). Fourthly, the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) value of 0.0392 which is situated well below the cut-off value of 0.05(Hu & Bentler, 1998 ), and the chi-square value of 3581.622 which is situated well below the cut-off value of 0.0005. Finally, the RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation) equals 0.04 with a 90% confidence interval between 0.03 and 0.05.

Analysis of mediation effect

The value and confidence interval are situated over but below the cut-off value of 0.1 which suggests not a great but a good fit. Factor analysis was verified by factor analysis using principal component analysis and only factors with an eigenvalue of 1 or more by orthogonal rotation method were selected. Factor loading was considered to be significant at 0.5 or more (Hair et al., 2006a , b ). As a result of the analysis, cumulative explanation for 72.4% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis thus supported the differentiation of the three components Also we tested the confirmatory validity of the construct by testing whether the structural linkage of each square is greater than the mean variance extraction (AVE) of each structure. The AVE ranged from 0.52 to 0.53, reaching the recommended level of .50 for both Fornell and Larcker ( 1981 ). Therefore, all constructs showed sufficient convergent validity (see Table 3 ).

As shown in Table 4 , the AVE value of each variable has a higher value than that of other factors. Therefore, the discriminant validity of the proposed model can be judged as appropriate.

Means, standard deviations, and correlations among the study variables are shown in Table 5 .

The mean scores for the conceptual model were as follows for problem-solving ability (MD. 5.20, SD.1.08), innovative behavior (MD.5.20, SD.1.03), and opportunity recognition (MD. 5.14, SD. 1.06) conditions. The means of problem-solving ability, innovative behavior, and opportunity recognition were high. Furthermore, those variables correlated positively with each other.

Figure 1 showed that all paths and their significance levels are presented in Table 6 . The path between the latent variables problem-solving ability and innovative behavior was significant (p, 0.001), consistent with Hypotheses 1. In addition, there was innovative behavior and opportunity recognition (p, 0.01), this result provide empirical support for Hypothesis 2.

H3 proposed that Problem-solving ability is positively related to opportunity recognition. The results of the correlation analysis: The coefficient of problem solving and opportunity perception weakened from .717 to .444, but it is still partly mediated because it is still significant (C. R = 7.604 ***). This supports H3 (see Table 6 ).

In order to verify the significance of the indirect effect, the bootstrapping must be performed in AMOS, and the actual significance test should be identified using two-tailed significance. As a result, the significance of indirect effect is 0.04 ( p < 0.05), which is statistically significant (see Table 7 ).

Discussion and conclusion

We have tried to demonstrate the effects of behavior and its significance by differentiating from the general curriculum emphasizing cognitive effects as a model of problem solving ability emerging as innovative behavior through opportunity of university entrepreneurship education.. This supports the premise that entrepreneurship education can improve opportunities or processes through behavioral learning. The results of this study support the role of entrepreneurship education in creating opportunities for innovative behavior and problem solving abilities. Entrepreneurship education should provide different types of learning for new opportunities and focus on what is manifested in behavior.

In addition, based on previous research, we propose whether the following contents are well followed and whether it is effective. First, the emergence of innovative behavior in problem-solving abilities increases as the cognitive diversity of students with diverse majors and diverse backgrounds increases. Second, the more entrepreneurial learning experiences, the greater the chance of new opportunities. Third, it is necessary to investigate students’ problem solving style and problem-solving ability first, and then a teaching strategy based on this combination of systematic and effective theory and practice is needed. Of course, as demonstrated by many studies, it may be easier to enhance the effectiveness of opportunity recognition through cognitive learning. This is because it emphasizes the achievement of knowledge and understanding with acquiring skills and competence. This process, however, is not enough for entrepreneurship education. However, we do not support full team-based behavioral learning in the class designed by Michaelsen and Sweet ( 2008 ). As with the results of this study, problem solving ability is positively related to opportunity perception directly. As previously demonstrated in previous studies, problem solving ability can be enhanced by cognitive learning (Anderson et al., 2001 ; Charles & Lester, 1982 ).

Therefore, it has been demonstrated that it is more efficient to balance a certain level of cognitive learning and behavior learning in consideration of the level of students in a course. Also this study satisfies the need for empirical research by Lumpkin and Lichtenstein ( 2005 ) and Robinson et al. ( 2016 ) and others. This will help to improve understanding of how entrepreneurship training is linked to various learning models and their effectiveness and to design better courses for the future. Finally, this study sought to provide an awareness of entrepreneurship education as the best curriculum for solutions that evolved into innovative behaviors that create new values and ultimately represent new opportunities. This study shows that it can positively influence the social effect of creating new value, that is, not only the cognitive effect of general pedagogy, but also the innovation behavior. By providing this awareness, we have laid the groundwork for empirical research on entrepreneurship education in order to create more opportunities for prospective students in education through education and to expand their capabilities.

Limitation and future research

Indeed, the concepts presented here and the limitations of this study have important implications that can fruitfully be addressed in future research. First, we selected a sample of college students taking entrepreneurship training. However, since it is not the whole of Korean university students, it is difficult to extend the research results to all college students in Korea. Second, there is no precedent research on the role of innovation behavior as intermedia in college students. Therefore, we were forced to proceed as an exploratory study.

The ability to recognize opportunities can provide significant benefits that can remain firm and competitive in an ever-changing environment. Future research should therefore expand these insights and try to empirically test more ways in which entrepreneurship pedagogy teaches how learning methods can be integrated into venture creation and growth processes to help new process opportunities. By providing this study, we will help entrepreneurship education in the university to create more opportunities and expand the capacity of prospective members.

Alvarez, S. A., & Barney, J. B. (2005). How do entrepreneurs organize firms under conditions of uncertainty? Journal of Management, 31 (5), 776–793.

Article Google Scholar

Amabile, T. M. (1988). A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 10 (1), 123–167.

Google Scholar

Ancona, D. G., & Caldwell, D. F. (1992). Demography and design: Predictors of new product team performance. Organization Science, 3 (3), 321–341.

Anderson, P. M., & Anderson, P. M. (1995). Analysis of faulted power systems (Vol. 445). New York: IEEE press.

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P., Cruikshank, K., Mayer, R., Pintrich, P., & Wittrock, M. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy . New York: Longman Publishing.

Arbuckle, J. L., & Wothke, W. (2003). AMOS 5 user’s guide . Chicago: Smallwaters.

Ardichvili, A., Cardozo, R., & Ray, S. (2003a). A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development. Journal of Business Venturing, 18 (1), 105–123.

Ardichvili, A., Cardozo, R., & Ray, S. (2003b). A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development. Journal of Business Venturing, 18 (1), 105–123.

Baron, R. A., & Ensley, M. D. (2006). Opportunity recognition as the detection of meaningful patterns: Evidence from comparisons of novice and experienced entrepreneurs. Management Science, 52 (9), 1331–1344.

Barron, F., & Harrington, D. M. (1981). Creativity, intelligence, and personality. Annual review of psychology, 32 (1), 439–476.

Casson, M. (1982). The entrepreneur: An economic theory . Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Charles, R., & Lester, F. (1982). Teaching problem solving: What, why & how . Palo Alto: Dale Seymour Publications.

Davidsson, P. (2015). Entrepreneurial opportunities and the entrepreneurship nexus: A re-conceptualization. Journal of Business Venturing, 30 (5), 674–695.

Dubickis, M., & Gaile-Sarkane, E. (2017). Transfer of know-how based on learning outcomes for development of open innovation. Journal of Open Innovation : Technology, market, and complexity , 3 (1), 4.

Dyer, J. H., Gregersen, H. B., & Christensen, C. (2008). Entrepreneur behaviors, opportunity recognition, and the origins of innovative ventures. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2 (4), 317–338.

D'zurilla, T. J., & Nezu, A. M. (1990). Development and preliminary evaluation of the social problem-solving inventory. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2 (2), 156.

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research , 39–50.

Gaglio, C. M., & Katz, J. A. (2001). The psychological basis of opportunity identification: Entrepreneurial alertness. Small Business Economics, 16 (2), 95–111.

Garavan, T. N., & O’Cinneide, B. (1994). Entrepreneurship education and training programmes: A review and evaluation-part 1. Journal of European Industrial Training, 18 (8), 3–12.

Gartner, W. B., & Carter, N. M. (2003). Entrepreneurial behavior and firm organizing processes. In Handbook of entrepreneurship research (pp. 195–221). New Mexico: Springer US.

Hair, E., Halle, T., Terry-Humen, E., Lavelle, B., & Calkins, J. (2006a). Children's school readiness in the ECLS-K: Predictions to academic, health, and social outcomes in first grade. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21 (4), 431–454.

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006b). Multivariate Data Analysis (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc..

Hayton, J. C., & Cholakova, M. (2012). The role of affect in the creation and intentional pursuit of entrepreneurial ideas. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36 (1), 41–68.

Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3 (4), 424.

Inkinen, T. (2015). Reflections on the innovative city: Examining three innovative locations in a knowledge bases framework. Journal of Open Innovation : Technolodgy, market. Complexity, 1 (1), 8.

Isaksen, S. G. (1987). Frontiers of creativity research: Beyond the basics. Bearly Ltd.

Jabri, M. M. (1991). The development of conceptually independent subscales in the measurement of modes of problem solving. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51 (4), 975–983.

Jonassen, D. H. (2004). Learning to solve problems: An instructional design guide (Vol. 6). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Kanter, R. M. (1983). The change masters: Binnovation and entrepreneturship in the American corporation. Touchstone Book.

Kanter, R. M. (1988). Three tiers for innovation research. Communication Research, 15 (5), 509–523.

Kim, H. C., Song, C. H., & An, B. R. (2016). A study on effects of personal characteristics on start-up opportunity and entrepreneurial intention of start-up. Korean Management Consulting review, 16 (3), 75–87.

Kim, S. A., Ryoo, H. Y., & Ahn, H. J. (2017). Student customized creative education model based on open innovation. Journal of Open Innovation : Technology, Market, and Complexity , 3 (1), 6.

Kim, T. H., & Roh, J. H. (2010). A Study of the Impact of Public Service Motivation on Innovative Behavior of Organizational Members. Korean Journal of Public Administration, 48(3).

Kirton, M. (1976). Adaptors and innovators: A description and measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61 (5), 622.

Kirzner, I. M. (1997). Entrepreneurial discovery and the competitive market process: An Austrian approach. Journal of Economic Literature, 35 (1), 60–85.

Ko, S., & Butler, J. E. (2003). Alertness, bisociative thinking ability, and discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities in Asian hi-tech firms.

Koestler, A. (1964). The act of creation: A study of the conscious and unconscious processes of humor, scientific discovery and art.

Lumpkin, G. T., & Dess, G. G. (2004). E-Business Strategies and Internet Business Models: How the Internet Adds Value. Organizational Dynamics, 33 (2), 161–173.

Lumpkin, G. T., & Lichtenstein, B. B. (2005). The role of organizational learning in the opportunity-recognition process. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29 (4), 451–472.

Manev, I. M., Gyoshev, B. S., & Manolova, T. S. (2005). The role of human and social capital and entrepreneurial orientation for small business performance in a transitional economy. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 5 (3–4), 298–318.

Michaelsen, L. K., & Sweet, M. (2008). The essential elements of team-based learning. New directions for teaching and learning, 2008 (116), 7–27.

Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Validity. Psychometric theory, 99–132.

Paine, J. B., & Organ, D. W. (2000). The cultural matrix of organizational citizenship behavior: Some preliminary conceptual and empirical observations. Human Resource Management Review, 10 (1), 45–59.

Robinson, S., Neergaard, H., Tanggaard, L., & Krueger, N. F. (2016). New horizons in entrepreneurship education: from teacher-led to student-centered learning. Education+ Training, 58(7/8), 661–683.

Schumacker, R. E., & Lomax, R. G. (1996). A beginner's guide to structural equation modeling . Mahwah: Laurence Erlbaum Google Scholar.

Scott, S. G., & Bruce, R. A. (1994). Determinants of innovative behavior: A path model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 37 (3), 580–607.

Shane, S. A. (2003). A general theory of entrepreneurship: The individual-opportunity nexus . Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Book Google Scholar

Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25 (1), 217–226.

Siegel, S. M., & Kaemmerer, W. F. (1978). Measuring the perceived support for innovation in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63 (5), 553–562.

Spivack, G., Platt, J. J., & Shure, M. B. (1976). The problem-solving approach to adjustment . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Stevenson, H., & Gumpert, D. (1985). The heart of entrepreneurship.

Stevenson, H. H. & J. C. Jarillo (1990). 'A paradigm of entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial management', Strategic Management Journal, 11, pp. 17–27.

Ucbasaran, D., Westhead, P., & Wright, M. (2009). The extent and nature of opportunity identification by experienced entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing, 24 (2), 99–115.

Van de Ven, A. H., & Angle, H. L. (1989). Suggestions for managing the innovation journey (No. 9). Strategic Management Research Center, University of Minnesota.

Venkataraman, S. (1997). The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research. Advances in entrepreneurship, firm emergence and growth, 3 (1), 119–138.

Venkataraman, S., & Sarasvathy, S. D. (2001). Strategy and entrepreneurship: Outlines of an untold story.

Warner, M. (2002). Publics and counterpublics. Public Culture, 14 (1), 49–90.

Woodman, R. W., Sawyer, J. E., & Griffin, R. W. (1993). Toward a theory of organizational creativity. Academy of Management Review, 18 (2), 293–321.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Dept. of Technology Entrepreneurship (Graduate School), Dongguk University, 904 Chungmurogwn, Toegye-ro 36Gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, 100-272, South Korea

Ji Young Kim, Dae Soo Choi & Chang-Soo Sung

Yonsei School of Business, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, South Korea

Joo Y. Park

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joo Y. Park .

Ethics declarations

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Kim, J.Y., Choi, D.S., Sung, CS. et al. The role of problem solving ability on innovative behavior and opportunity recognition in university students. J. open innov. 4 , 4 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40852-018-0085-4

Download citation

Received : 12 September 2017

Accepted : 22 January 2018

Published : 05 February 2018

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40852-018-0085-4

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Problem-solving ability
Innovative behavior
Opportunity recognition
Entrepreneurship education

Best Applications For Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship
Small Business Ideas
Small Business & Entrepreneurship

The Relationship Between Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship

While entrepreneur and entrepreneurship are both connected terms, they have some differences.

Is entrepreneur and entrepreneurship the same? Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship are not the same. An entrepreneur refers to the person who builds and operates a business. On the other hand, Entrepreneurship is a process or an activity. Entrepreneurs carry out entrepreneurship.

If you’re interested in learning more about the relationship between an entrepreneur and entrepreneurship…keep reading!

Table of Contents

What Is the Meaning of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur?

Definition of entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is someone who introduces new products and services to the market by innovation .

An entrepreneur is responsible for their own success. Therefore, they bear all the risk that comes with a business.

An entrepreneur is a leader who guides their employees to achieve success in their business.

Also, an entrepreneur turns creative ideas into reality.

Examples of famous entrepreneurs include Mark Zuckerberg , Bill Gates , Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs , and so on…

Definition of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a process or an activity that establishes new businesses. Entrepreneurship includes the initiation, development, management, and operation of a startup company.

Entrepreneurs carry out entrepreneurship to run and manage businesses.

Entrepreneurs use entrepreneurship to develop strong relationships with distributors, suppliers, banks, creditors, investors, and other entrepreneurs. These relationships can greatly value the entrepreneur as they help the entrepreneur in difficult times.

Entrepreneurship has four types: small business entrepreneurship, large company entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and scalable startup entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneur vs. Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship are both similar words, but there are a few differences between them, such as:

Characteristics of Entrepreneur

Now let’s discuss the characteristics of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur has lots of great and unique qualities and characteristics. A few of them includes:

1. Self-Confidence : An entrepreneur is someone who believes in themselves. They know their strength and weaknesses, hence they have confidence in themselves. They know that they can achieve anything only if they have self-confidence.

2. Leader : An entrepreneur knows the importance of leadership. They understand how leadership can lead to success in business. Hence, they become the best leaders because their business will go down the drain without it.

3. Responsible : An entrepreneur is in charge of his/her own business, making them the sole responsible and accountable for their own success or failure.

4. Risk-Taker : An entrepreneur is well aware of the risk that comes with the business. They are great risk-takers because the greater the risk, the greater reward.

5. Creative : An entrepreneur is a creative thinker. Their creative thinking leads to innovations that solve society’s problems.

6. Passionate : The key to great success is a passion for what you do. Entrepreneurs are well aware of this. Hence they are very passionate and focused people who work very hard to achieve their goals.

7. Self-Disciplined : A self-disciplined entrepreneur is more inclined towards success than the one who is not. Self-discipline helps an entrepreneur keep on track.

8. Time Management : As the saying says, “Time is money.” A successful entrepreneur knows the value of time. A time spent productive can reap too much reward in the future. Hence entrepreneurs are good at time management.

9. Communication Skills : If something that can make you thrive in business is good communication skills. Entrepreneurs have excellent communication skills because they want themselves to be successful.

10. Problem-Solving : An entrepreneur is someone who has great problem-solving abilities. Entrepreneurs face many problems throughout their lives, so problem-solving qualities are necessary.

Characteristics of Entrepreneurship

The characteristics of entrepreneurship include:

1. Process : Entrepreneurship is how entrepreneurs run and operate a business.

2. Idea : Entrepreneurship gives shape to the ideas which an entrepreneur comes up with.

3. Promotion : Entrepreneurship helps in its unique way by promoting the new products and services introduced by entrepreneurs.

4. Innovation : Entrepreneurship helps to look for opportunities in the market. It fulfills the market need by innovation. Hence innovation is the critical characteristic of entrepreneurship.

In conclusion, both are similar words, but they have some differences. Such as entrepreneur is a person, and entrepreneurship is a process or an activity. An Entrepreneur carries out business and entrepreneurship through how an entrepreneur carries out business.

If you are intrested learning more about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs than checkout my blog.

How to Talk to an Employee Who Isn’t Meeting Expectations

Jenny Fernandez

It’s an opportunity to address the gap between the work they’re delivering and the company’s goals.

Approaching a conversation about improving an employee’s performance requires preparation, empathy, and a focus on collaboration. Even though hearing the truth about their current performance will be tough and potentially hurtful, it’s a teaching moment managers must embrace to help them become more resilient and adept at problem-solving and developing professional relationships. The author offers several strategies for treating difficult performance conversations not as fault-finding missions, but instead as opportunities to work collaboratively to define a shared commitment to growth and development.

As a leadership and team coach, I frequently encounter situations where managers feel ill-equipped to give their team members negative performance feedback. These conversations can be particularly challenging because the stakes are high for both sides. Unfavorable performance reviews and ratings come with tangible consequences for an employee’s compensation and career progression. Further, if the negative feedback is a surprise to them, it might prompt them to start looking for a new job.

Jenny Fernandez , MBA, is an executive and team coach, Columbia and NYU faculty, and future of work and brand strategist. She works with senior leaders and their teams to become more collaborative, innovative, and resilient. Her work spans Fortune 500 companies, startups, and higher education. Jenny has been recognized by LinkedIn as a “Top Voice in Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, and Personal Branding” and was invited to join the prestigious Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches community. She is a Gen Z advocate. Connect with her on LinkedIn .

Partner Center

VIDEO

Difference between Problem Solving and Decision Making
Why is there so much divorce in the world of entrepreneurship?
What is the difference between entrepreneurship and business?
From problem tree to problem statement
Strategic Planning vs Problem Solving
The Potential Drawbacks of Being Entrepreneur

COMMENTS

6.1 Problem Solving to Find Entrepreneurial Solutions
Our mission is to improve educational access and learning for everyone. OpenStax is part of Rice University, which is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit. Give today and help us reach more students. Help. OpenStax. This free textbook is an OpenStax resource written to increase student access to high-quality, peer-reviewed learning materials.
3.2: Problem-Solving to Find Entrepreneurial Solutions
Entrepreneurial problem-solving is the process of using innovation and creative solutions to close that gap by resolving societal, business, or technological problems. Sometimes, personal problems can lead to entrepreneurial opportunities if validated in the market. The entrepreneur visualizes the prospect of filling the gap with an innovative ...
Relationship Between Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurial
Findings/Conclusions: Students in entrepreneurship education showed an overall statistically significant increase in entrepreneurial mindset, specifically in communication and collaboration, opportunity recognition, and critical thinking and problem-solving. Moreover, there was a positive association between entrepreneurial mindset gains and ...
The Entrepreneurial Mind-Set: A Framework for Problem-Solving and
Entrepreneurship 4.0 continues to go beyond anything we have seen before, in areas like social entrepreneurship—solving social issues as a nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid. Additionally, businesses, start-ups, the government, life—essentially all systems—are full of problems and therefore about problem-solving.
Motivating entrepreneurial learning: moderation of problem-solving
Fourth, although problem-solving efficacy has not revealed a moderating effect on the relationship between relational support and entrepreneurial engagement, this insignificance may suggest that entrepreneurship education that increases the knowledge of developing social network opportunities for obtaining relational support play an important ...
Shared problem solving and design thinking in entrepreneurship research
Problem solving. Shared problems. 1. Introduction. There is a longstanding debate about the trade-offs between rigor and relevance in entrepreneurship research and about the reduced opportunities for engaged scholarship ( Wiklund et al. 2011; Wiklund et al. 2019; Dimov et al., 2020 ). As a response, several scholars have recently started ...
The Effect of Youth Entrepreneurship Education Programs: Two Large
Social problem solving refers to the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes that individuals use to manage all kinds of situations ... Miao C., Fiet J. O. (2014). The relationship between entrepreneurship education and. entrepreneurial intentions: A meta-analytic review. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(2), 217-254. Crossref.
Entrepreneurship as design: A design process for the emergence and
Nonetheless, the entrepreneurship literature recognizes the value of design in problem framing and solving as a good iterative approach to cope with this vagueness of goals and processes (Hyytinen, 2021), to the point that a number of studies are starting to investigate the "designerly ways of entrepreneuring" (Klenner et al., 2022).
Entrepreneurship education but not as we know it ...
Wiklund, Davidsson, Audretsch, and Karlsson (2011) write of entrepreneurship as a method of human problem solving. In this sense, entrepreneurship is not the prerogative of the economy or business (Gibb, 2002), it relates to attributes that support individuals in numerous spheres of life. This broader understanding of the purpose of EE may not ...
Entrepreneurship as Problem-Solving
Daniel Ek, Spotify. Spotify Co-Founder Daniel Ek shares his very early experiences with entrepreneurship, which came about due to a need to solve problems. Ek also provides his definition of an entrepreneur, as "someone that has an itch for a problem, and is annoyed enough by that problem to seek a solution for it.".
Entrepreneurship: Definitions, opportunities, challenges, and future
1 INTRODUCTION. Entrepreneurship is a significant topic in business management research but also impacts other fields such as science, the arts, and engineering (Kirzner, 2009).It is a field of study that has been legitimized by the volume of articles and books on the topic (Apostolopoulos et al., 2021).In most conceptualizations of entrepreneurship, it involves creating value thereby having a ...
The relationship between entrepreneurial intention and behavior: A meta
Regional affluence can boost entrepreneurship by increasing access to resources for venture creation but can also render the opportunity costs of ... Yasir M, Majid A (2018) Refining the relationship between entrepreneurial skills and start-up-behavior: The role of fear of failure and age-based self-image. Pakistan Journal of ...
PDF The role of problem solving ability on innovative behavior and
purpose, the relationship between problem solving ability, innovation behavior, and opportunity perception was verified empirically. This study was conducted on 203 students who took entrepreneurship education courses at Korean universities. The results of this study showed that problem solving ability positively influenced
Creativity and Entrepreneurship
It follows from these assumptions that a differentiated perspective on creativity in entrepreneurship requires examining the specific effects of divergent and convergent thinking on different dimensions of entrepreneurial success in the three phases (prelaunch, launch and postlaunch) of entrepreneurship. Future research should employ a more ...
Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Critical Overview of
Creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and intelligence play an important and crucial role in solving today's difficult and challenging problems. Engineers have long used control systems utilizing all kind of "Controls" to model and control all physical and human made systems.
What Is Creative Problem-Solving & Why Is It Important?
Creative problem-solving primarily operates in the ideate phase of design thinking but can be applied to others. This is because design thinking is an iterative process that moves between the stages as ideas are generated and pursued. This is normal and encouraged, as innovation requires exploring multiple ideas.
ERIC
Relationship between Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurial Mindset, and Career Readiness in Secondary Students. Rodriguez, Sophia; ... and critical thinking and problem-solving. Moreover, there was a positive association between entrepreneurial mindset gains and perceptions of future career success. Implications: This study paves the way ...
Mediating role of entrepreneurial intention on the relationship between
Using Ajzen's (Citation 2005) TPB framework, the authors looked into the relationship between entrepreneurship education and students' intention to become entrepreneurs and discovered a substantial correlation between perceived behavioral control or self-efficacy and a three-day entrepreneurship program that concentrated on appraising new ...
Impact of entrepreneurial mindset and motivation on business
Review of literature. In recent decades, the domain of entrepreneurial capacity has shown notable progress and development. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research conducted from 1979 to 2022 by Chhabra et al. (Citation 2023) has shed light on the development, current state, and potential future directions in the field of entrepreneurship training and development.
What Is the Relationship Between Entrepreneurship And Innovation?
The entrepreneurship and innovation nexus represents a close relationship. Innovation will always be a key factor for the success of entrepreneurs. This is because it allows entrepreneurs to create new products and services that meet the needs of different customers. Therefore, creativity and innovation in entrepreneurship play a crucial role ...
The role of problem solving ability on innovative behavior and
The implication of this study is to prove the relationship between individual 's problem - solving ability considering the characteristics of education in Korea and the opportunity through innovative behavior and various learning strategies to help entrepreneurship education to design better courses for the future It has important ...
The Relationship Between Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs face many problems throughout their lives, so problem-solving qualities are necessary. Characteristics of Entrepreneurship. The characteristics of entrepreneurship include: 1. Process: Entrepreneurship is how entrepreneurs run and operate a business. 2. Idea: Entrepreneurship gives shape to the ideas which an entrepreneur comes up ...
How to Talk to an Employee Who Isn't Meeting Expectations
Approaching a conversation about improving an employee's performance requires preparation, empathy, and a focus on collaboration. Even though hearing the truth about their current performance ...