Abstract
Entrepreneurial cognition and emotion are key drivers of innovation, enabling entrepreneurs to develop solutions for complex societal and environmental challenges. This study explores how different configurations of entrepreneurial imaginativeness (creative, social, and practical) and entrepreneurial passions (inventing, founding, and developing) contribute to sustainable development goal (SDG) activities at societal, organisational, and environmental levels. Using a configurational approach, we analyse data from 247 entrepreneurs in Bangladesh through fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, identifying multiple pathways that entrepreneurs leverage to tackle grand challenges. The results reveal that practical imaginativeness and passion for developing consistently play a central role across SDG contexts, while social and creative imaginativeness emerge as critical in specific domains. Entrepreneurs demonstrate adaptability, strategically combining cognition and emotion to align with different SDG initiatives. We advance theoretical understanding by illustrating how cognition (imaginativeness) and emotion (passion) interact, forming unique configurations that drive sustainable impact.