Opportunity Identification by Entrepreneurs with Different Knowledge Sources: A Social Capital Perspective

Abstract

A significant debate persists concerning the origins of knowledge for firm formation, with scholars categorising these origins into three distinct types of entrepreneurships: academic, employee, and user. Opportunity identification theories are commonly divided into two principal schools of thought—opportunity creation theory, which emphasises the subjective nature of opportunities, and opportunity discovery theory, which underscores their objective existence. Through an analytical synthesis of the literature, this article examines how each entrepreneurial type identifies opportunities by exploring the interplay between social capital and entrepreneurial alertness. The findings suggest that user and employee entrepreneurs, who benefit from weak social ties, are more likely to discover opportunities. In contrast, academic entrepreneurs—constrained by endoinstitutional social capital—exhibit lower levels of alertness and consequently tend to create rather than discover opportunities. This article advances entrepreneurship theory by elucidating the social capital mechanisms that underlie opportunity identification across diverse entrepreneurial contexts.