Entrepreneurial uncertainty in context: an ethnomethodological perspective
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
ISSN: 1355-2554
Article publication date: 9 April 2020
Issue publication date: 19 March 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to advance research into entrepreneurial uncertainty. Few researchers have attended to the endogenous means by which entrepreneurial teams account for uncertainty in context. This article begins to unpack the concept of uncertainty as an entrepreneurs’ phenomenon by investigating entrepreneurial teams’ situated ways of verbally attending to and accounting for uncertainty in their routine work.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on the ethnomethodological traditions of Conversation Analysis and interaction order to analyze naturally occurring interactions that have been recorded by entrepreneurial teams in context. It considers entrepreneurial uncertainty as a matter that teammates draw upon and orient to in the process of their naturally occurring workplace interactions.
Findings
First, it suggests that the endogenous means by which entrepreneurs recognize, account for, and respond to uncertainties is identifiable in a team’s naturally occurring conversations. It transforms entrepreneurial uncertainty as a matter of cognition into a matter of practice that is observable in the structure and order of authentic interaction. Second, it reveals the “epistemic engine” that entrepreneurial teams use to demonstrate greater or lesser levels of knowing and to move to closure that is not marked by the full elimination of uncertainties but by the establishment of a shared sense of not knowing.
Practical implications
By adhering to the detailed interactional focus of Conversation Analysis, this article emphasizes the value that the structure and order of entrepreneurial conversations can offer to research on entrepreneurship as practice. It points to future research on matters of effectuation and expertise that will be relevant to scholars and educators of entrepreneurship. It also helps to bridge the gap between scholarly research and entrepreneurial work as experienced by practitioners.
Originality/value
This article shows the mundane verbal means by which entrepreneurs account for uncertainties in their everyday work. It reframes entrepreneurial uncertainty, transforming it from a matter of cognition to an accomplishment of practice. It suggests that entrepreneurial uncertainty is a practical matter that is recognized by and accounted for in the conversations of entrepreneurial teams in context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Entrepreneurship as Practice”, guest edited by Bruce Teague, Richard Tunstall, Claire Champenois and William B. Gartner.
Citation
Campbell, B. (2021), "Entrepreneurial uncertainty in context: an ethnomethodological perspective", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 648-667. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-10-2018-0627
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited