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Article
Publication date: 17 June 2021

Ying Zhang and Marina G. Biniari

This study unpacks how organizational members construct a collective entrepreneurial identity within an organization and attempt to instill entrepreneurial features in the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study unpacks how organizational members construct a collective entrepreneurial identity within an organization and attempt to instill entrepreneurial features in the organization's existing identity.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on the cases of two venturing units, perceived as entrepreneurial groups within their respective parent companies. Semi-structured interviews and secondary data were collected and analyzed inductively and abductively.

Findings

The data revealed that organizational members co-constructed a “corporate entrepreneur” role identity to form a collective shared belief and communities of practice around what it meant to act as an entrepreneurial group within their local corporate context and how it differentiated them from others. Members also clustered around the emergent collective entrepreneurial identity through sensegiving efforts to instill entrepreneurial features in the organization's identity, despite the tensions this caused.

Originality/value

Previous studies in corporate entrepreneurship have theorized on the top-down dynamics instilling entrepreneurial features in an organization's identity, but have neglected the role of bottom-up dynamics. This study reveals two bottom-up dynamics that involve organizational members' agentic role in co-constructing and clustering around a collective entrepreneurial identity. This study contributes to the middle-management literature, uncovering champions' identity work in constructing a “corporate entrepreneur” role identity, with implications for followers' engagement in constructing a collective entrepreneurial identity. This study also contributes to the organizational identity literature, showing how tensions around the entrepreneurial group's distinctiveness may hinder the process of instilling entrepreneurial features in an organization's identity.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 27 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2017

Ziad El-Awad, Jonas Gabrielsson and Diamanto Politis

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model that explains how learning processes at the team level connect with individual and organizational levels of learning in…

2320

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model that explains how learning processes at the team level connect with individual and organizational levels of learning in technology-based ventures, thereby influencing the evolution of innovation capabilities in the entrepreneurial process.

Design/methodology/approach

The 4I organizational learning framework is used as an overarching theoretical structure to acknowledge entrepreneurial learning as a dynamic process that operate on multiple levels in technology-based ventures. Embedded in this logic, research on team learning is integrated into this theorizing to examine how learning processes at the team level bridge and connect with learning processes operating at individual and organizational levels.

Findings

The conceptual model identifies different sets of team learning processes critical for the routinization and evolution of innovation capabilities in technology-based ventures. In this respect, the conceptual model advances the scholarly understanding of entrepreneurial learning as a dynamic process operating across multiple levels in technology-based ventures.

Originality/value

By conceptualizing how individual streams of experiences over time become institutionalized via interaction, conversation and dialogue, the paper provides novel insights into the critical role of team learning for bridging individual and organizational levels of learning in the entrepreneurial learning process.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 March 2022

Irina Stoyneva and Veselina Vracheva

Drawing from legitimacy and institutional entrepreneurship theory, this study assesses the naming patterns of entrepreneurial firms in the US biotechnology industry.

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing from legitimacy and institutional entrepreneurship theory, this study assesses the naming patterns of entrepreneurial firms in the US biotechnology industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a mixed-methods design of content analysis and regression to analyze a sample of 441 entrepreneurial biotechnology firms, for which data were obtained from Net Advantage. The authors track changes to the proportion of firms with naming attributes, such as name length and type of name. The authors also examine variability in those characteristics during the industry's evolution, comparing freestanding to acquired start-ups.

Findings

Start-ups select names that are longer, more descriptive, begin with rare sounds or hard plosives and have stronger discipline- or technology-specific links during nascent years of the industry. As the industry evolves, entrepreneurs are more likely to select names that are shorter, more abstract, begin with hard plosives and have stronger industry-specific links. The naming patterns of freestanding and acquired companies differ, and companies that conform to industry pressures tend to remain independent.

Originality/value

Unlike extant studies that assess established industries, the current study identifies shifting trends in the naming patterns of entrepreneurial firms in an emerging industry. By focusing on start-ups, the authors expand research on organizational naming practices, which focuses traditionally on name choices and name change patterns of incumbents. By using marketing and linguistics methods when analyzing organizational name attributes, naming patterns in these attributes are identified, including name length, name type, starting letter of the name and link to the industry.

Details

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2574-8904

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2022

Dana Schadenberg and Emma Folmer

This paper aims to analyse how sustainable second-hand stores (SSHSs) use storytelling as a legitimization strategy. Second-hand stores have traditionally relied on a charity…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse how sustainable second-hand stores (SSHSs) use storytelling as a legitimization strategy. Second-hand stores have traditionally relied on a charity identity to attract customers. More recently, changing market demands, the growing popularity of second-hand shopping, “vintage” and online shopping have opened up new opportunities for these social enterprises (SEs). This study asks how SSHSs can maintain their legitimacy with incumbent stakeholders while also exploiting these new opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses an abductive approach starting from existing knowledge on how storytelling builds legitimacy in conventional enterprises. The authors collected qualitative data and interviewed owners and managers of second-hand stores in the Netherlands. This paper specifically looked at how second-hand stores are using their web shops to convey stories and build legitimacy with (new) audiences.

Findings

Contrary to the authors’ expectations, they found that the web shop is not used as a site for storytelling the mission of the store but is rather a stage for specific products that tell a story of trendy and vintage shopping. This attracts a new customer segment to the store that conventionally does not shop there. This paper concludes that second-hand stores use vintage products as symbols in storytelling through their web shop to gain access to a new market. By foregoing to tell the story of their mission on the web shop, the second-hand stores are choosing to keep their charity and business identity separate.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper makes an original contribution by analysing how second-hand stores are actively exploiting new opportunities created by a changing market context and seeking to maintain legitimacy while doing so. This paper argues that legitimacy is not a static “reward,” rather, something that evolves with the enterprise. This research adds to the body of literature on legitimacy and more specifically cultural entrepreneurship, which holds that entrepreneurs can actively gain and maintain legitimacy through storytelling.

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2019

Debadutta Kumar Panda

The purpose of this study is to understand the business ecosystem through the “identity” construct. “Identity” is a well-researched subject in sociology and psychology but as a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the business ecosystem through the “identity” construct. “Identity” is a well-researched subject in sociology and psychology but as a construct, its application is limited in management and organization studies, especially in the ecosystem context. This study used “identity” to examine the management and organization of stone carving microenterprise clusters in India.

Design/methodology/approach

The examination followed classical grounded theory approach for data collection and data analysis. Data collection was made by a mixture of focus group discussions, informal discussions, personal observations, etc., and it followed a series of thematic analysis under the qualitative technique. Further, a structured questionnaire was used to collect information, and the data analysis was done through structural equation modelling and confirmatory factor analysis.

Findings

The study identified and established ten identities of the producers, two identities of the suppliers and two identities of the customers. There were identity-interlinkages within each stakeholder, and among the stakeholders, creating a solid, static and rigid ecosystem for ages.

Originality/value

This paper made a new and significant contribution to the literature on the business ecosystem.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 February 2021

Ximena Alejandra Flechas Chaparro and Leonardo Augusto de Vasconcelos Gomes

Entrepreneurs' pivot decisions are poorly understood. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on pivot decisions to identify the different…

3364

Abstract

Purpose

Entrepreneurs' pivot decisions are poorly understood. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on pivot decisions to identify the different conceptualizations, research streams and main theoretical building blocks and to offer a baseline framework for future studies on this phenomenon.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review of 86 peer-reviewed papers published between January 2008 and October 2020, focusing on the pivot decision in startups, was performed through bibliometric, descriptive and content analyses.

Findings

The literature review identifies four research streams concerning the pivot concept – pivot design, cognitive, negotiation and environmental perspectives. Building on previous studies, this paper provides a refined definition of a pivot that bridges elements from the four research streams identified: a pivot comprises strategic decisions made after a failure (or in the face of potential failure) of the current business model and leads to changes in the firm's course of action, resource reconfiguration and possible modifications of one or more business model elements. This study proposes a framework that elaborates the pivot literature by identifying four stages of the pivot process addressed in the existing literature: recognition, generating options, seizing and testing and reconfiguration.

Originality/value

This study provides a comprehensive review, enabling researchers to establish a baseline for developing future pivot research. Furthermore, it improves the conceptualization of pivots by summarizing prior definitions and proposing a refined definition that places decision-making and judgment at its center. That introduces new contextual and behavioral elements, contributing to a better understanding of how entrepreneurs assess alternative courses of action and envision possible outcomes to redirect a venture after failure.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 September 2023

Cherisse Hoyte and Hannah Noke

This study aims to explore how aspiring entrepreneurs navigate between their own individual self-concept and the organisational identity of the new venture during the process of…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how aspiring entrepreneurs navigate between their own individual self-concept and the organisational identity of the new venture during the process of new venture creation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on three cases of aspiring entrepreneurs within a UK-based university incubator in the process of “becoming” entrepreneurs. Semi-structured interviews and secondary data were collected and analysed using a flexible pattern matching approach.

Findings

The data illustrated parallel identity and sensemaking processes occurring as the aspiring entrepreneurs navigated towards new venture formation. For the organisational identity process, three key stages were found to occur: referent identity labelling, projection and identity reification. Concurrently the sensemaking process made up of creation, interpretation and enactment were seen to enable identity transitioning mechanisms: cue identification, liminal sensegiving and recognition of formal venture boundaries, which led to the organisational identity being formed.

Research limitations/implications

This study is exploratory in nature thus future research is required to clarify the relationship between identity work practices and the process of creating a new venture (Oliver and Vough, 2020). The paper is limited to successful instances of new venture formation, and though this helped to extricate the identity transitioning stages and mechanisms that have thus far remained implicit within the process of new venture creation, it could be extended to examine entrepreneurs who fail to set up new ventures. This limitation opens avenues for further research on identity formation in failed ventures (Snihur and Clarysse, 2022) and on how entrepreneurs negotiate contested identities (Varlander et al., 2020). Furthermore, entrepreneurs take different pathways to new venture formation (Shepherd et al., 2021) and while this study follows the journey of aspiring entrepreneurs who differed in terms of sector, education and prior entrepreneurial experience (Shane, 2003), future researchers could undertake a more in-depth ethnographic study including the effects of incubator setting and how these can be best supported, as this was outside the original remit of this study. Given the importance of the university incubator (Bergman and McMullen, 2022), its role in the construction of new venture identity is an interesting area for future research.

Practical implications

This study provides a practical contribution into entrepreneurship curricula and incubator training, emphasising the importance of understanding the relevance of the entrepreneur's self-concept in making sense of future venture identities. Through the findings of this study, the importance of cue identification and how aspiring entrepreneurs rely on these to carve out the identity of their budding venture is demonstrated. Incubator spaces may have a role to play in supporting aspiring entrepreneurs to reflect on and interpret feedback (liminal sensegiving) during the venture creation process. Furthermore, both educators and incubator managers need to be aware of the state of in-between-ness aspiring entrepreneurs will face as they carve out the identity of the budding venture. This study enables educators to advise aspiring entrepreneurs that there will come a point on the entrepreneurial journey when they need to emphasise boundary setting between self and organisation to enable organisational identity to be fostered and venture formation realised. This study advises incubator managers to consider whether support around business registrations and creation of business accounts should be provided earlier in the incubation programme to emphasise boundary setting between self and organisation. There is a fruitful avenue for future research to extend the work in this paper to fully understand how this might be taught and practiced in the classrooms.

Originality/value

By extricating the stages of organisational identity formation, often hidden within the new venture creation process, this study has framed new venture creation as a liminal experience and a visible site of identity work. This study presents a process model of the key identity transitioning stages and mechanisms in new ventures, by illustrating how aspiring entrepreneurs' sensemaking influences identity transitions during the process of venture creation.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 29 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 June 2021

Golshan Javadian, Maria Figueroa-Armijos, Vishal K. Gupta, Meisam Modarresi and Crystal Dobratz

Does gender stereotype endorsement play a role in the customer's cognitive evaluation of new ventures owned by women entrepreneurs? The authors’ cross-cultural study integrates…

Abstract

Purpose

Does gender stereotype endorsement play a role in the customer's cognitive evaluation of new ventures owned by women entrepreneurs? The authors’ cross-cultural study integrates literature on gender stereotype endorsement and cognitive legitimacy to address this research question.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a two-study experimental design and analyze our results by cultural context to test our hypotheses: one drawn from college students in Iran and one from working professionals in the United States.

Findings

The authors’ comparative results suggest that the evaluation of feminine versus masculine characteristics of women entrepreneurs varies depending on the evaluator's (in this case the customer's) endorsement of gender stereotypes and the cultural context. Specifically, the authors found that a new venture owned by a woman entrepreneur who displays feminine characteristics is perceived as more legitimate when the customer endorses feminine stereotypes, regardless of the country.

Research limitations/implications

The authors’ research contributes to the literature on cognitive legitimacy and women's entrepreneurship by unveiling the cultural conditions and factors that allow women entrepreneurs to benefit from acting in a stereotypically feminine way. The authors use a binary approach to gender. Future research should extend our findings to also include a non-binary approach.

Originality/value

This study contributes to women's entrepreneurship research by unraveling the implications of gender stereotype endorsement, legitimacy and culture in customer evaluation of ventures owned by women.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2021

Xiaoyong Zheng

This paper aims to examine the relationships between the group affiliates’ dual legitimacy (membership legitimacy and societal legitimacy) and dual resource acquisition…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the relationships between the group affiliates’ dual legitimacy (membership legitimacy and societal legitimacy) and dual resource acquisition (intra-group and out-group), and the moderating roles of environmental uncertainty and munificence in the emerging economies.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses based on the unique data of 251 group affiliated firms in China and applies the alternative measurements and alternative methodology of structural equation modeling into robustness check to confirm the results.

Findings

The results show as follows: the group affiliates can benefit from membership legitimacy for intra-group resource acquisition and out-group resource acquisition through the mediations of societal legitimacy and intra-group resource acquisition. However, in the linkage between affiliates’ membership legitimacy and intra-group resource acquisition and the linkage between societal legitimacy and out-group resource acquisition, environmental uncertainty plays the positive moderating roles while environmental munificence plays the negative moderating roles. Under the condition of high environmental uncertainty and low environmental munificence, the linkage between membership legitimacy and intra-group resource acquisition, and the linkage between societal legitimacy and out-group resource acquisition reach the strongest level.

Research limitations/implications

The findings highlight the importance of dual legitimacy building for group affiliates to acquire resources both inside and outside the business group when they operate in emerging economies characterized by high environmental uncertainty and low environmental munificence. However, it does not explore the contextual factors (e.g. institutional distance) affecting the relationship between the affiliate’s membership legitimacy and societal legitimacy. Then more group-level factors are expected to be included and explored with multi-level models in the future studies.

Originality/value

The findings reveal the mechanism of how group affiliates benefiting differently from dual legitimacy to acquire resources in the emerging economies, which also provide a new interpretation for the questions of who benefiting more from the group affiliation, how and why (Carney et al., 2009). This research also explores the moderating roles of task environmental characteristics (environmental uncertainty and environmental munificence) on the affiliate's dual legitimacy and dual resource acquisition, which helps understand why legitimacy building is more important in terms of resource acquisition in the emerging economy characterized by uncertainty and non-munificence.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 November 2018

Markus Laursen and Catherine P. Killen

The purpose of this paper is to holistically explore value creation approaches in a program of cultural projects to inform the practices of project/program management in both…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to holistically explore value creation approaches in a program of cultural projects to inform the practices of project/program management in both public and private sectors.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper brings together the literature on project, program and portfolio value creation to inform a case study conducted with engaged scholarship research methods.

Findings

Three themes of value creation are revealed: managing collaboration, coordination and perception. Effectuation and causation are both observed, demonstrating that a combination of logics underpin decision making in projects.

Research limitations/implications

The results are based on a single case in a cultural context. Further research is needed to determine whether the observed value creation themes apply more generally, and to explore more deeply the use of logics associated with entrepreneurship in project decision making.

Practical implications

The study reveals several non-commercial aspects of value creation that may play a role across a range of project environments. Practitioners may be able to recognize a wider range of value creation and to better nurture these previously unacknowledged types of value.

Originality/value

The study provides new insights on value and decision logic through in-depth analysis of value creation in a program of culture projects.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 36000