TOWARD A THEORY OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTION
Exploring Risk, Opportunity and Self in Technology Entrepreneurship
Department of Technology Management and Economics
Abstract
This thesis sets out to develop a model of
entrepreneurial action that takes its point of departure in entrepreneurs’
experiences of risk-taking, opportunity identification and the role of self. By
focusing on what entrepreneurs experience as relevant aspects of their life
worlds the goal is to attain a better understanding of the drivers and
motivations of venture creation and development.
Action has traditionally been defined as doing
something with a degree of intentionality or awareness, as opposed to mere
thinking or mechanical behavior. This opens up for a number of alternative
interpretations of entrepreneurial action, which is also reflected in the
existing literature in the field of entrepreneurship. After a brief stocktaking
of influential economic perspectives, this literature is reviewed under three broad
headings, viz. behavioral, cognitive and discursive approaches to
entrepreneurial action. These approaches in different ways increase our
understanding, but also fail to capture important aspects of entrepreneurial
action as a contextually embedded process while retaining the entrepreneur as a
reflexive and strategically thinking subject.
To complement existing research the appended studies use
phenomenological methods to explore the entrepreneurial life world. The general
ambition is to examine how entrepreneurs experience and conceptualize their
actions, including how key phenomena are conceptualized and enacted as part of
the venture creation and development process. This is specifically addressed in
four appended studies that investigate risk (study I and IV), opportunity (study
III) and the role of self (study II) among technology entrepreneurs. The
argument is that these themes cover key aspects of the entrepreneurial life
world and therefore provide a good starting point for analyzing entrepreneurial
action writ large.
Based on the individual studies, the discussion
section outlines the contours of a general model of entrepreneurial action that
centers around the questions: Who am I?, What do I see?, What do I do?, and
What are the effects? By taking the experiences of the acting entrepreneur as
the point of departure, it is also possible to re-examine many questions and
assumptions in the study of entrepreneurship. Theoretically the salience of
individual experiences suggests a new understanding of who the entrepreneur is.
It also indicates that personal and often conflicting perceptions of risks and
opportunities, regardless of their realism, constitute important drivers of entrepreneurial
action. Practically the results may allow entrepreneurs, managers, educators,
venture capitalists and others to take more informed actions. For entrepreneurs
the results may increase awareness of their own role, problematize risks and
opportunities, and also suggest new and creative ways for developing the
venture. More specifically the results can be used as an analytical template in
the evaluation of, e.g. financial and technological risks. The thesis also contributes
methodologically by demonstrating how phenomenological methodologies may advance
understanding of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial action.
Keywords: Action, behavior, entrepreneur, technology
entrepreneurship, innovation, embeddedness, enactment, phenomenology, risk, self, opportunity.