Entrepreneurial Cognition, Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Capability in the Creative Industries

Creative industries are firms which are characterized largely by the labour inputs of creative individuals, and surrounded by a degree of rhetoric as to their significance, but are a comparatively under‐researched sector. In this study we developed a research framework which integrated entrepreneurial cognition, entrepreneurial orientation and firm capabilities and explored the relationships between these variables, market conditions and the performance of small creative industry enterprises. The data suggest that high growth small firms are characterized by well‐developed internal capabilities allied to an entrepreneurial orientation and that the combination of the various sub‐attributes associated with each of these appear to be especially salient under conditions of intense competition. The policies, managerial and educational implications of the findings are discussed.