A brand-new study exposed increased neuronal connection in the brains of serial business owners compared to supervisors, recommending these entrepreneurs have remarkable cognitive versatility, essential for their success. The findings, using an ingenious resting-state fMRI technique offer insights for boosting entrepreneurial cognition and training within organizations.
New pioneering research involving both serial business owners and supervisors revealed improved neural connections in the brains of entrepreneurs, possibly leading to unique cognitive characteristics.
A pioneering research study conducted by a multidisciplinary group from the HEC– School of Management at the University of Liège and Liège University Hospital (CHU Liège), including both entrepreneurship scientists and neuroscientists, discovered proof that entrepreneurs possess increased neuronal connectivity in the brains of business owners, which might contribute to unique cognitive characteristics.
Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), the study showed that serial entrepreneurs have greater connectivity between the best insula (related to cognitive versatility) and the anterior prefrontal cortex (an essential area for exploratory choices), compared to their fellow managers. These outcomes, published in the journal Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, suggest that serial business owners possess greater cognitive flexibility, enabling them to alternate successfully in between expedition and exploitation, a balance that is crucial to their success.
The differences between the brains of serial business owners and managers, as established at the end of the multidisciplinary study carried out by HEC Liège– School of Management of the University of Liège and the Centre du Cerveau of the CHU of Liège. Credit: Adeline Deward, www.illuminesciences.be
Unlike the traditional fMRI approach based on tasks submitted to the topic, the rs-fMRI on which this study is based observes the brain at rest, in the absence of cognitive jobs or presentation of stimuli, which makes up an ingenious method to improving understanding of the entrepreneurial mind. Forty managers, people and business owners, took part in the study.
” This research study represents a crucial advance in our understanding of the entrepreneurial mind. It highlights the potential of neuroscience and how this approach complements the standard tools utilized to study entrepreneurial cognition. By highlighting the distinction in cognitive versatility, it likewise provides a new point of view to notify the design of training or professional development programs targeted at enhancing the cognitive versatility and entrepreneurial spirit of people within different companies,” explains Frédéric Ooms, scientist and Assistant Professor in management and entrepreneurship (HEC– ULiège School of Management), very first author of the publication, based upon the results of his Ph.D. thesis on entrepreneurial cognitive flexibility provided in April 2023.
” In a world of rapid and unpredictable change, organizations require to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and foster cognitive flexibility within their groups, qualities acknowledged by the OECD as a 21st-century challenge,” explains Professor Bernard Surlemont, Professor of Entrepreneurship at ULiège (HEC Liège).
” This collaborative, multidisciplinary research study shows neuro-entrepreneurship, the integration of understanding in neuroscience (at the ULiège GIGA and the CHU of Liège) and the world of entrepreneurship (HEC Liège), and demonstrates how neuroimaging strategies assist to much better visualize the neural networks associated with cognitive versatility, in order to have the ability to adapt to a continuously altering truth, which is the source of entrepreneurial success,” notes Dr. Steven Laureys, neurologist and Clinical Professor at the Centre du Cerveau of the University Hospital (CHU) of Liège, Research Director at the Fund for Scientific Research– FNRS and Visiting Professor at the CERVO Research Centre (Laval, Quebec).
Reference: “Advancing (Neuro) Entrepreneurship Cognition Research Through Resting-State fMRI: A Methodological Brief” by Frédéric Ooms, Jitka Annen, Rajanikant Panda, Paul Meunier, Luaba Tshibanda, Steven Laureys, Jeffrey M. Pollack and Bernard Surlemont, 8 May 2023, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.DOI: 10.1177/ 10422587231170217.
” This study represents an important advance in our understanding of the entrepreneurial mind. It highlights the potential of neuroscience and how this technique matches the traditional tools utilized to study entrepreneurial cognition. By highlighting the difference in cognitive flexibility, it also offers a new point of view to notify the style of training or professional advancement programs intended at enhancing the cognitive flexibility and entrepreneurial spirit of individuals within different organizations,” explains Frédéric Ooms, scientist and Assistant Professor in management and entrepreneurship (HEC– ULiège School of Management), very first author of the publication, based on the results of his Ph.D. thesis on entrepreneurial cognitive flexibility presented in April 2023.
