Dear colleagues,
We're excited to invite you to an upcoming panel symposium at AOM 2025 that brings together leading scholars to explore counterfactual imagination in strategy, entrepreneurship, and cognition.
�� Session Title: Counterfactual Histories and Counterfactual Futures: A New Direction for Cognition
�� Date & Time: Sunday, July 27, 2025 | 5:15–6:45 PM CEST (GMT+2)
�� Location: Bella Center – Hall B, Room B2-m3
Panelists:
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Teppo Felin (Utah State University)
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Felipe Csaszar (University of Michigan)
- Sharon Alvarez and Joseph Porac (University of Pittsburgh / NYU)
- Gino Cattani (New York University)
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Juliane Reinecke (Oxford University)
Session Description:
This symposium advances the exploration of imagination as a structured cognitive process that shapes strategic thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship. While imagination is often perceived as spontaneous, free-associative, or akin to daydreaming, research in cognitive science and psychology reveals that counterfactual imagination-focused on reconstructing pasts and envisioning futures-follows an identifiable structure.
The discussion will highlight the role of counterfactual imagination in generating novel strategies, reassessing historical contingencies, and envisioning desirable futures. Panelists will discuss the epistemic value of counterfactual thinking, its function in sensemaking, the role of AI in counterfactual imagination, the construction of environments through the use of counterfactual imagination, and its potential to be cultivated as a skill for strategic management and entrepreneurship.
Organizers:
Meenal Banga (University of Texas at Austin)
Mia Chang-Zunino (ESCP Paris)
We look forward to seeing you in Copenhagen!
MEENAL BANGA (she, her, hers)
Ph.D. Student | Department of Management
The University of Texas at Austin | McCombs School of Business