The evolution of local systems of production and innovation (LSPI) is followed by the institutionalization of the system to coordinate the actions of entrepreneurs and other local agents. The process of alignment between institutions (social rules) and cognitions (individual rules) is determined by impasses and contradictions, once changes in both dimensions do not occur simultaneously. This article analyzes how the level of entrepreneurial cognitive ability influences the capacity of entrepreneurs for interpreting institutions. This research, developed in a garment district of Indaiatuba with twenty entrepreneurs, proposes a methodology, within an entrepreneurial domain, to measure the level of entrepreneurial cognitive ability and the capacity of entrepreneurs to read and interpret institutions. There are two main findings. First, there is evidence that entrepreneurs within a LSPI have different levels of cognitive structures. Second, these differences are correlated with the capacity of entrepreneurs to read, interpret and adopt institutions.
Institutions; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial cognition; Local system of production and innovation