Awe-Driven Venturing: Identifying and Pursuing Transformational Opportunities

Recent psychology research has uncovered the transformative power of awe in spurring change. Awe emotional experiences induce change through two functions: (1) the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that challenges existing worldviews and (2) a sense of needing to adjust one’s mental framework to accommodate the vastness. This paper introduces a theoretical framework exploring how awe impacts processes of pursuing transformational opportunities—namely, opportunities that are radical, fulfill dual goals (social and economic), or have a broad scope for scaling. This paper theorizes that entrepreneurial venturing offers a structured way for individuals to process stimuli from an awe episode to identify and validate a transformational opportunity. Our theorizing builds on psychology theories of self-transcendent emotions (generally) and awe (specifically) and extends those theories to mainstream entrepreneurship and management research. We contribute to research on entrepreneurship and management by demonstrating how awe episodes can impact individuals and other stakeholders in pursuing transformational opportunities.