Philosophical reflexivity and entrepreneurship research

217 Pages·2018·1.514 MB·English

by  Alain Fayolle, Stratos Ramoglou, Mine Karatas-Ozkan, Katerina Nicolopoulou

‘ This book offers the reader a variety of philosophical ideas and approaches to
spur refl ection on taken for granted assumptions about what entrepreneurship is
and the ways entrepreneurship scholars understand this phenomenon. The
chapters in this book go beyond critiquing current ideas and perspectives, rather,
the book opens up important lines of inquiry in such topic areas as: uncertainty,
the imagination, social construction, critical realism, and the nature of failure.
I expect that many of the insights from this book will provide directions for
major avenues of entrepreneurship scholarship over the next decade. Scholars
who want clues about the future direction of the entrepreneurship fi eld would be
wise to explore this book.’
– William B. Gartner,  Bertarelli Foundation Distinguished
Professor of Family Entrepreneurship

Philosophical Reflexivity and
Entrepreneurship Research
E ntrepreneurship research attracts scholars from a wide spectrum of disciplines.
Yet the fi eld is multi-paradigmatic and lacking consensus, even on the nature of
core entrepreneurial phenomena. What is recognized is that it is characterized by
dynamic and emergent processes – a complex interplay between actors, processes
and contexts. As a result, post-positivistic approaches are gaining traction in a fi eld
long dominated by positivistic philosophies.
T his book refl ects on the fundamental philosophical basis of entrepreneurship
scholarship. It explores the shifting meanings of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship,
the unexamined assumptions which lie behind the established discourses which
legitimize or dismiss the possibilities for scholarship. Contributing scholars adopt a
refl exive approach to entrepreneurship research challenging readers to question their
approaches and assumptions and explicitly defend them against competing alternatives.
B uilding on this critical refl ection, this book provides space for philosophical
refl exivity in the conduct and publication of scholarly enquiry and will be of great
interest to scholars, researchers and advanced students in all aspect of
entrepreneurship study.
Alain Fayolle is Professor of entrepreneurship, the founder and Director of the
Entrepreneurship Research Centre at EM Lyon Business School, France. Alain
published thirty-fi ve books and over 100 articles.
Stratos Ramoglou is Associate Professor of Strategy, Innovation and
Entrepreneurship at the University of Southampton, UK. He holds a PhD from the
University of Cambridge, and his research interests include entrepreneurship,
organization theory and philosophy of science.
Mine Karatas-Ozkan is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at
Southampton Business School. Her research focuses on social and diversity
dimensions of entrepreneurship.
Katerina Nicolopoulou is Senior Lecturer at Strathclyde Business School, UK.
Her research focuses on social, sustainable and diversity-based forms of
entrepreneurship as well as on the concept of cosmopolitanism as a disposition for
developing entrepreneurship.
Routledge Rethinking Entrepreneurship Research
Edited by Alain Fayolle and Philippe Riot
The current focus on entrepreneurship as a purely market-based phenomenon and
an unquestionably desirable economic and profi table activity leads to undervaluing
and under-researching important issues in relation to power, ideology or phenom-
enology. New postures, new theoretical lenses and new approaches are needed to
study entrepreneurship as a contextualized and socially embedded phenomenon.
The objective of this series therefore is to adopt a critical and constructive posture
towards the theories, methods, epistemologies, assumptions and beliefs which
dominate mainstream thinking. It aims to provide a forum for scholarship which
questions the prevailing assumptions and beliefs currently dominating entrepre-
neurship research and invites contributions from a wide range of different com-
munities of scholars, which focus on novelty, diversity and critique.
Rethinking Entrepreneurship
Debating research orientations
Edited by Alain Fayolle and Philippe Riot
Family Entrepreneurship
Rethinking the research agenda
Kathleen Randerson, Cristina Bettinelli, Alain Fayolle and Giovanna Dossena
Challenging Entrepreneurship Research
Edited by Hans Landström, Annaleena Parankangas, Alain Fayolle and
Philippe Riot
Revitalizing Entrepreneurship Education
Adopting a critical approach in the classroom
Karin Berglund and Karen Verduijn
Philosophical Reflexivity and Entrepreneurship Research
Edited by Alain Fayolle, Stratos Ramoglou, Mine Karatas-Ozkan and
Katerina Nicolopoulou
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com
Philosophical Reflexivity and
Entrepreneurship Research
Edited by Alain Fayolle,
Stratos Ramoglou,
Mine Karatas-Ozkan and
Katerina Nicolopoulou
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Alain Fayolle, Stratos Ramoglou,
Mine Karatas-Ozkan and Katerina Nicolopoulou; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Alain Fayolle, Stratos Ramoglou, Mine Karatas-Ozkan and
Katerina Nicolopoulou to be identifi ed as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-65029-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-62545-4 (ebk)
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Contents
List of illustrations ix
1 Introduction: refl ecting on our philosophical journey 1
STRATOS RAMOGLOU, MINE KARATAS-OZKAN AND ALAIN FAYOLLE
2 Applying philosophy to entrepreneurship and the social sciences 6
RUSS MCBRIDE
3 New partial theory in entrepreneurship: explanation,
examination, exploitation and exemplifi cation 21
RICHARD J. AREND
4 Social constructionism and entrepreneurial opportunity 44
LUKE PITTAWAY, RACHIDA AÏSSAOUI AND JOE FOX
5 Serious realist philosophy and applied entrepreneurship 66
LEE MARTIN AND NICK WILSON
6 Critical realism as a supporting philosophy for
entrepreneurship and small business studies 82
JOHN KITCHING
7 The other reading: refl ections of postcolonial deconstruction
for critical entrepreneurship studies 98
ANNA-LIISA KAASILA-PAKANEN AND VESA PUHAKKA
8 Cruel optimism: the stories of entrepreneurial attachments 112
NATASHA SLUTSKAYA, OLIVER MALLETT AND JANET BORGERSON
9 Critiquing and renewing the entrepreneurial imagination 126
NEIL A. THOMPSON
viii Contents
10 Examining the contributions of social science to
entrepreneurship: the cases of cosmopolitanism and orientalism 139
KATERINA NICOLOPOULOU AND CHRISTINE SAMY
11 A unifi ed account of the fi rm: deontic architecture 155
BRIAN R. GORDON AND RUSS MCBRIDE
12 Uncertainty under entrepreneurship 184
DIMO DIMOV
Index 197
Illustrations
Figures
3.1 Basic process underlying existing entrepreneurship theory 24
5.1 The relationship between entrepreneurial project and
entrepreneurial opportunity 74
Table
3.1 Proposed theory characteristics and testing 36