Exploring the Future of the Engineer Profession: The Effect of the Entrepreneurial Engineers’ Mental Models on Their Opportunity Recognition Capabilities

Abstract

This work evaluates the effects of entrepreneurial engineers' mental models on their opportunity recognition capability. We use mental model proxies such as entrepreneurial experience, knowledge, and education. Through a self-applied survey, we found that entrepreneurial experience, entrepreneurial education, and opportunity recognition are unidimensional constructs. Both entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial experience show a significant positive effect on opportunity recognition. Both the mean of opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial knowledge show a significant difference between individuals with or without entrepreneurship experience. Entrepreneurial education shows a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial knowledge. Also, age shows a positive effect on entrepreneurial knowledge. We use for the first time in opportunity recognition literature the semantic perspective of mental model theory to discuss and explain research results.

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