Entrepreneurial Behaviour

Individual, Contextual and Microfoundational Perspectives

Maura McAdam, James A. Cunningham, Maura McAdam, James A. Cunningham

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9783030044015
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030044022
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

This edited collection draws together cutting edge perspectives from leading scholars on the increasingly prominent discussion of entrepreneurial behaviour. Exploring various aspects of human behaviour, the authors analyse the antecedent influences and drivers of entrepreneurial behaviour in different organisational settings. This collection is of interest to scholars, practitioners and even policy-makers, as a result of its in-depth exploration, discussion and evaluation of emerging themes of entrepreneurial behaviour within the field of entrepreneurship and beyond. Offering contextual examples from universities, firms and society, Entrepreneurial Behaviour covers topics such as entrepreneurial intention, gender, crime, effectuation and teamwork.

© The Author(s) 2019

Maura McAdam and James A. Cunningham (eds.)Entrepreneurial Behaviourhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04402-2_1

Begin Abstract

1. Entrepreneurial Behaviour: A Research Outlook

Maura McAdam¹ and James A. Cunningham²

(1)

DCU Business School, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

(2)

Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Maura McAdam (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

James A. Cunningham

Email: [email protected]

Keywords

Entrepreneurial behaviourIndividualContextualMicrofoundationsResearch agendaEntrepreneursUniversitiesSociety

End Abstract

1.1 Introduction

As the domain of entrepreneurship has broadened, increasing attention has been paid to the behavioural aspects of different practices in the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. Within the entrepreneurship field, scholars have focused particular attention on effectuation (see Brettel et al. 2012; Fisher 2012; Sarasvathy 2001) entrepreneurial intent (see Autio et al. 2001; Lüthje and Franke 2003; Schlaegel and Koenig 2014). Entrepreneurial behaviour is a subset of entrepreneurial activities concerned with understanding, predicting and influencing individual behaviour in entrepreneurial settings. Accordingly, entrepreneurial behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour in enterprises. Policy makers, institutional supporting agencies and practitioners have a growing interest in how entrepreneurial behaviour influences and shapes the creation and viability of new venture. In established enterprises entrepreneurial behaviour is also necessary in supporting the growth and sustainability. For organisations that are not for profit-focused such as public sector organisations or non-governmental organisations, entrepreneurial behaviour provides a capability that enables such entities to survive in challenging resource environments. Moreover, with a growing interest in entrepreneurial education within the entrepreneurial field and the growth of innovative pedagogical how to influence entrepreneurial behaviour in formal and informal settings as part of core and extracurricular activities is of particular interest and relevance to entrepreneurship educators.

Despite the importance of entrepreneurial behaviour as a construct to understand the process of entrepreneurship extant research is fragmented and lacks a coherent framework to understand how entrepreneurial behaviour is enacted in different contexts and which fully depicts the emerging and evolving nature of research. Bird et al. (2012) argue that in order to understand entrepreneurial behaviour, attention needs to focus on human action in venture creation, development, maintenance and growth. Studies of entrepreneurial behaviour thus focus on the observable actions of individuals (sole founders or team members) usually in the start-up or early stages of an organisation. Behaviour is thus an outcome of the motivation, personality, skills, knowledge, experience and abilities of entrepreneurs with these attributes externalised through action.

1.2 The Need for a Contextual Approach

Critical to our understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour are both individual characteristics and micro-foundational issues and situational or contextual factors (Reynolds 1992; Hills and Singh 2004; Senyard et al. 2009). This is largely due to the fact that under the same situational circumstances, not all individuals will behave identically. Thus, individual and contextual differences constitute an integral part of entrepreneurship research (Johnson 1990; Hisrich et al. 2007; Frese 2009), central to the stimulation of entrepreneurial activity. Indeed, prior research on entrepreneurial venturing, despite its limitations, demonstrates that characteristics of the individual and characteristics of the situation matter, a view consistent with Reynolds (1992). A closely aligned issue to entrepreneurial behaviour is effectuation.

Effectuation, as an espoused logic of thinking which shapes decision making and behaviour, has attracted growing interest within the field of entrepreneurship (Baron 2009; Dew and Sarasvathy 2007; Dew et al. 2009, 2011; Read et al. 2009; Sarasvathy 2001, 2004; Sarasvathy and Dew 2005; Wiltbank et al. 2006, 2009). Sarasvathy and Dew (2005: 390) define effectuation as: ‘to the extent we can control the future, we do not need to predict it’ and is presented as an inverse to causation and its underpinning logic that ‘to the extent we can predict the future we can control it’. At the core of an effectual approach is the idea that action to create value is directed by the transformation of means that are readily available rather than idealised future goals (Harmeling 2011). These means are cultivated from ones’ current context and constitute an individual’s traits, attributes, tastes, values, preferences, passions, interests, prior knowledge, education, experience, expertise, contacts and the contacts of contacts. The means held are idiosyncratic to a given individual and constantly evolving. Due to its flexible and adaptive emphasis, effectuation is considered intuitive and useful in dynamic and non-linear environments when the immediate future is highly uncertain and precise objectives are unknown (Bridge and O’Neill 2012; Dew et al. 2011; Sarasvathy 2001). In such situations, the strategic principles of prediction and control commonly associated with causation would be unfeasible and inappropriate (Read et al. 2009). Conversely causation is more apt in situations where goals are not ambiguous and there is certainty about how the future might unfold. It can be deemed that the use of effectual logic alone is not conducive to successfully realising value creation (Read et al. 2009) and the onus should be on the individual to adopt an approach most suited to the task at hand and the contextual setting (Bridge and O’Neill 2012).

1.3 Book Structure

This book brings together a collection of chapters from key influencers in the field of entrepreneurship and other related fields that explores, discusses and analyses two key strands of contemporary research in entrepreneurial behaviour: individual and contextual as well as micro-foundational issues. To achieve this, the contributors first focus on the entrepreneur as an individual and offer innovative yet complementary approaches to entrepreneurial behaviour, intentions and self-efficacy. They explore, interrogate and debate how entrepreneurial behaviour can be trained and learned, providing a much-needed theoretical anchor to pedagogical approaches in entrepreneurship. Accordingly, the microfoundations explicating the underlying theoretical foundations of the origins of individual entrepreneurial behaviour and action are unpacked. Building on this, illustrative contextual examples are then provided to demonstrate the manifestation of entrepreneurial behaviours at the contextual level. In structuring the chapter contribution our first theme focuses on emerging themes that provide diverse and challenging perspectives that further our understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour. Our second and third themes explore entrepreneurial behaviour in university and firm contexts. Our final theme examines entrepreneurial behaviour and society. This exploration of entrepreneurial behaviour in non-traditional context further extends our understanding, provides new insights and perspectives.

Chapter 2 commences with an investigation into entrepreneurial intent as an understanding of entrepreneurial intentions is critical to our understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour (Krueger 2017), because without intention there is little reason to expect action (Lee and Wong 2004). Critical to both our understanding of intentions and resultant behaviour is the microfoundations on which these intentions are grounded, with one such microfoundation being normative gendered ascriptions. Chapter 3 takes a critical perspective whilst reviewing the narrative of gender and entrepreneurship and in so doing noting the shift from a gender as a variable approach and associated assumptions of female deficit. Additionally, gender differences in the perception of the entrepreneurial environment and the impact of such on entrepreneurial behaviours will be explored. In recent years, there has been increasing attention paid to the darker side to entrepreneurship, with illegal and criminal entrepreneurship now considered valid manifestations of entrepreneurial behaviour (Rehn and Taalas 2004). Chapter 4 is concerned with entrepreneurial behaviours that manifest at the ‘margins of entrepreneurship’ and consequently focuses on ‘crimino-entrepreneurial behaviour’ which spans two disparate human efficacies, namely, crime and entrepreneurship. Within this chapter, a behavioural matrix is provided in order to address the theoretical paucity in relation to this area within the entrepreneurial behavioural domain. The matrix illustrates the multi-disciplinary theoretical complexity of such entrepreneurial behaviour present within the paradigm and the flexibility of the matrix as an investigative tool. In Chap. 5, entrepreneurship behaviour is redefined in light of effectuation, an emergent theory of entrepreneurship, which is then applied to understand entrepreneurial team formation process. This chapter argues that despite the focus on extant literature on individual entrepreneurial behaviour, the overwhelming majority of new ventures are in fact started by entrepreneurial teams. Team formation is thus ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Entrepreneurial Behaviour: A Research Outlook
• Part I. Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Emerging Themes
• Part II. Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Universities
• Part III. Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Firms
• Part IV. Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Society
• Back Matter