Résumé
While it is true that "all innovation begins with creative ideas " (Amabile, 1996: 143) and that innovation doesn't occur if individuals do not perceive an opportunity to innovate (Krueger, 2000), not all creative ideas are implemented and not all opportunities are pursued. Cognition influences the way individuals perceive, interpret and transform information, thus it plays a crucial role on individual innovation processes (Baron, 2004, 2007; Shane, 2003; Simon, Houghton, & Aquino, 2000). Guided by entrepreneurial cognition theory, this research examines the role of confidence and risk-taking on entrepreneur's ability to innovate. Building on an experimental design with 70 real entrepreneurs, the present study provides new insights into the under-researched area of why some entrepreneurs are more likely to implement creative ideas and succeed at introducing innovations. Our findings suggest that overconfidence and risk-taking behavior favor creativity, opportunity evaluation and innovation implementation. In the other hand, optimism seems to have a dual and contradictory effect: positive for creativity, but negative for evaluation and implementation of innovations.