Business Model Innovations (BMI) are central decisions of the top management team and crucial for companies aspiring to establish enduring competitive advantages. However, there has been limited research focused on elucidating the factors influencing on top managers' decision-making processes regarding BMI. Our study adopts a cognitive perspective, delving into the dynamics between the prevailing contextual dynamics (opportunities and threats) that influence the decision to innovate a business model, prior BMI experiences (failures and successes), and a manager's temporal orientation. Empirically, we conducted a behavioral experiment involving 400 C-level and C-1-level executives from Forbes 2000 companies. Our findings show that both current threats and past failures inhibit BMI. Additionally, a temporal focus on the past and present increases the likelihood of deciding against a BMI. However, when combined with negative prior experiences with BMI, a focus on the past intensifies this effect, whereas a future-oriented temporal focus mitigates this negative impact. Our findings contribute to research on BMI and top management decision-making in this context. Moreover, we also add to the behavioral theory of the firm, offering insights into the cognitive and temporal dimensions that influence strategic decision-making in the realm of BMI.