Open Access

Research on motivational and cognitive processes in entrepreneurship has commonly relied on a static approach, investigating entrepreneurs´ motivation and cognition at only one point in time. However, entrepreneurs´ motivation and cognition are dynamic processes that considerably change over time. The goal of this dissertation is thus to adopt a dynamic perspective on motivational and cognitive processes in entrepreneurship. In three different chapters, I examine dynamic changes in the level and impact of three different processes, i.e., creativity, entrepreneurial passion, and opportunity identification. In Chapter 2, I develop a theoretical model on the alternating role of creativity in the course of the entrepreneurial process. The model emphasizes that the effects of two components underlying creativity, i.e., divergent and convergent thinking, considerably change both in magnitude and in direction throughout the entrepreneurial process. In Chapter 3, I establish and empirically test a theoretical model on entrepreneurial passion. The theoretical analysis and empirical results show that the relationships between feelings of entrepreneurial passion, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial success are dynamic and reciprocal rather than static and unidirectional. In Chapter 4, I develop and test a theoretical model on the effect of entrepreneurship training on opportunity identification over time. The theoretical and empirical investigation indicates that entrepreneurship training effects systematically decay over time and that action planning and entrepreneurial action sustain the effects in the long term. Altogether, the research reported in this dissertation provides novel insights into entrepreneurs´ motivation and cognition which more static approaches would have obscured. Moreover, the theoretical and empirical results of each chapter resolve apparent contradictions in past research and integrate hitherto fragmented theoretical perspectives into more inclusive theoretical frameworks. Thereby, this dissertation represents an important step toward a more integrated understanding of motivational and cognitive mechanisms underlying successful entrepreneurship.