Entrepreneurs are from Mars, bankers from Venus: Representational gaps between struggling entrepreneurs and loan officers

Although abundant, the literature on entrepreneurial failure has thus far overlooked the period of financial difficulty prior to bankruptcy when entrepreneurs run the risk of failure and depend on the support of their financial partners to prevent it. The present research aims to address this gap with an in-depth analysis of the loan officer-entrepreneur relationship under these specific circumstances. Using cognitive mapping, we compare the mental representations of both parties to understand how far successful collaboration is possible in such situations. Relying on a framing approach, this study provides a new understanding of the features of the loan officer-entrepreneur relationship, their representational gaps, and the tendency of each to externalize problem-solving.