Entrepreneurship Perception during the first COVID-19 Shock: Mental Representations of Entrepreneurship and Preferences of Business Models during the Pandemic

Abstract

We examine the explicit business model preferences and implicit mental representations of entrepreneurship in the early phase of the crisis. We find that the crisis comes with adaptations in both. During crisis, society is open for new business models, even though people increasingly rely on established economic actors instead of opening up towards newly founded firms. We conclude that the early and sudden impact of the crisis influences the entrepreneurial culture onwards and therefore potentially future entrepreneurial activities.