Purpose: This study uses the human capital approach and the entrepreneurial cognitive approach to investigate the relationship between business ownership experience and opportunity identification. Additionally, it considers the mediating role of cognitive styles. Study design/methodology/approach: The hypotheses were tested using path analysis, which included the examination of mediation. Sample and data: A questionnaire was used to collect data from 294 Egyptian entrepreneurs.Results: The findings suggest an association between business ownership experience and, analytical style and opportunity identification. The paper also found an association between the analytical style and the number of opportunities. Both intuitive and analytical styles are associated with the innovativeness of opportunities. Furthermore, this study revealed that analytical thinking only partially explains the relationship between business ownership experience and opportunity identification.Originality/value: This study’s value lies in testing the relationship between business ownership experience and opportunity identification in a new context, using a sample of Egyptian entrepreneurs. It also offers a relatively unexplored perspective on the relationship between business ownership experience and opportunity identification. Additionally, the findings challenge the common assumption that prior experience is a source of intuition. The study revealed that experienced entrepreneurs prefer analysis to enhance their ability to identify opportunities.Research limitations/implications: This research’s insights are somewhat limited due to using a non-probability sample. The paper examined entrepreneurs’ cognitive styles without exploring their actual use of intuition and analysis. Despite these limitations, this paper has implications for entrepreneurship research and policy development.
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