Navigating complex problem spaces: How emotion and energy shape entrepreneurial agency in serendipitous encounters

• Reframes serendipity as an affective experience. • Shows how emotions and energy tend to shape entrepreneurial agency wfor sustainability challenges. • Identifies dual pathways of committed and reframed agency. • Extends contingency-based views of opportunity recognition by emotional and energetic cues. • Introduces a novel AI-Diary method for real-time reflection.