Embracing Process in Entrepreneurship Research

(A Narrative Perspective)

William B. GartnerCopenhagen Business School / California Lutheran University

wbg.mpp@cbs.dk / wgartner@callutheran.edu

Academy of Management, Entrepreneurship Division, PDWAugust 2, 2014

“Lost”

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index/index.php?date=2006/01/11

“Lost” by David Wagoner from Collected Poems 1956-1976 © Indiana University Press.

Paying Attention to Entrepreneurial Process

Arm Folding

http://www.slideshare.net/pwoessner/systems-thinking-lli2012

Doing Things Differently

Is difficult…

So, how to develop routines for the “non-routine”?

Or Not

What if the “non-routines” are routine?

What if difference is “no-difference?”

What assumptions are we making about: entrepreneurs, environments, firms and processes?

Yet why not say what happened?

Epilogue – Robert Lowell

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177164

What is Narrative?

Narrative displays the goals and intentions of human actors; it makes individuals, cultures, societies, and historical epochs comprehensive as whole; it humanizes time; it allows us to contemplate the effects of our actions, and to alter the directions of our lives. Narrative is everywhere; it is present in myth, fable, short story, epic, history, tragedy, comedy, painting, dance, stained glass windows, cinema, social histories, fairy tales, novels, science schema, comic strips, conversation and journal articles.

- (Richardson, 1990: 117)

What is Narrative?

“I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth. . . . What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. . . [T]his is true: stories can save us.”—Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

Methods in the Humanities

Men ask the way to Cold MountainCold Mountain: there’s no through trail.In summer, ice doesn’t meltThe rising sun blurs in swirling fog.How did I make it?My heart’s not the same as yours.If your heart was like mineYou’d get it and be right here.

-- Han-Shan (Gary Snyder translator)

Methods in the Humanities

– Literary – Historical – Philosophical– Aesthetic

Facebook

Mezrich, B. (2009). The Accidental Billionaires. New York: Doubleday.

Fincher, D. (2010). The social network.[Movie] Directed by D Fincher, screenplay by Sorkin, A. Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures International.

From Cliché to Insight

“We chase the interesting, which continually eludes us; we are chased by boredom, which continually catches us.”

Davis, M. S. (1999). Aphorisms and clichés: The generation and dissipation of conceptual charisma. Annual review of sociology, (25): 245-269.

An Idiosyncratic Entrepreneurial Narrative Bibliography (The Forrest)

A philosophical basis for the intersection of narrative, process and entrepreneurship Helin, J., Hernes, T., Hjorth, D. and Holt, R. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hjorth, D. (2014). Sketching a philosophy of entrepreneurship. In R. Welter & T. Baker (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Entrepreneurship. New York: Routledge, pp. 47-58.

Ricoeur, P. (1984). Time and Narrative. 3 vols. Trans. K. McLaughlin & D. Pellauer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Vaihinger, H. (1935). The Philosophy of ‘As If’, Trans. CK Ogden, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.

An historical basis for the intersection of process and entrepreneurship

Bucheli, M. & Wadhwani, R. D. (2013). Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wadhwani, R. D. & Jones, G. (2013). Schumpeter's Plea: Historical Reasoning in Entrepreneurship Research. In Bucheli, M. & Wadhwani, R. D. (Eds.) Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

“Stuff” on Narrative Alvesson M, Hardy C, and Herley B (2008) Reflecting on reflexivity: Reflexive textual practices in organization and management theory. Journal of Management Studies 45: 480–501.

Bamberg M (2007) Narrative: State of the Art. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Boje D. M. (2001) Narrative Methods for Organizational and Communication Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Brown AD (2006) A narrative approach to collective identities. Journal of Management Studies. 43: 731–753.

Bruner, J. (1986). Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Chen X, Yao X, and Kotha S (2009) Entrepreneur passion and preparedness in business plan presentations: A persuasion analysis of venture capitalists’ funding decisions. Academy of Management Journal 52: 199–214.

Clandinin DJ (2007) Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a Methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Czarniawska, B., (1997). A four times told tale: combining narrative and scientific knowledge in organization studies. Organization 4 (1), 7–30.

Czarniawska B (1999) Writing Management: Organization Theory as a Literary Genre. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Downing S (2005) The social construction of entrepreneurship: Narrative and dramatic processes in the coproduction of organizations and identities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 29: 185–204. Elliott J (2005) Using Narrative in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. London: SAGE. Ellis, C. S. & Bochner, A. P. (2006). Analyzing Analytic Autoethnography: An Autopsy. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 2006 35: 429-449.

Fletcher, D. (2003). Framing organizational emergence: discourse, identity and relationship. In Steyaert, C & Hjorth, D. (Eds.) New Movements in Entrepreneurship. London: Edward Elgar, pp. 125-142.

Fletcher, D. E. (2006). Entrepreneurial processes and the social construction of opportunity. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 18(5), 421-440.

Fletcher, D., (2007). ‘Toy Story:’ The narrative world of entrepreneurship and the creation of interpretive communities. Journal of Business Venturing 22 (5), 649–672.

Fletcher, D. E., & Watson, T. J. (2007). Entrepreneurship, management learning and negotiated narratives:‘Making it otherwise for us—otherwise for them’. Management Learning, 38(1), 9-26.

Gabriel, Y., (2004). Narratives, stories and texts. In: Grant, D., Hardy, C., Oswick, C., Putnam, L. (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Organizational Discourse. Sage Publications, London, pp. 61–78.

Garud, R., Gehman, J., & Giuliani, A. P. (2014). Contextualizing entrepreneurial innovation: A narrative perspective. Research Policy. 43: 1177-1188.

Garud, R., & Giuliani, A. P. (2013). A narrative perspective on entrepreneurial opportunities. Academy of Management Review, 38 (1), 157-160.

Garud, R., Schildt, H. A., & Lant, T. K. (2014). Entrepreneurial Storytelling, Future Expectations, and the Paradox of Legitimacy. Organization Science.

Goodman, N. (1978). Ways of worldmaking (Vol. 51). Hackett Publishing.

Green S. E. Jr, Li Y, and Nohria N (2009) Suspended in self-spun webs of significance: A rhetorical model of institutionalization and institutionally embedded agency. Academy of Management Journal 52: 11–36.

Hatch, M.J., (1996). The role of the researcher: an analysis of narrative position in organizational theory. Journal of Management Inquiry 5, 359–374.

Herman D (2009) Basic Elements of Narrative. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Herman L, Vervaeck B (2005) Handbook of Narrative Analysis. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Hjorth D, Steyaert C (2004) Narrative and Discursive Approaches in Entrepreneurship. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Lounsbury, M. and Glynn, M.A. (2001) ‘Cultural entrepreneurship: Stories, legitimacy, and the acquisitions of resources’, Strategic Management Journal 22 (6/7): 545–64.

March JG, Sproull LS, and Tamuz M (1991) Learning from samples of one or fewer. Organization Science 2: 1–13.

Martens, M. L., Jennings, J. E., & Jennings, P. D. (2007). Do the stories they tell get them the money they need? The role of entrepreneurial narratives in resource acquisition. Academy of Management Journal, 50 (5), 1107-1132. Martin W (1986) Recent Theories of Narrative. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Phillips, N., Tracey, P. & Karra, N. (2013). Building entrepreneurial tie portfolios through strategic homophily: The role of narrative identity work in venture creation and early growth. Journal of Business Venturing. 28: 134–150.

Pitt, M., 1998. A tale of two gladiators: ‘reading’ entrepreneurs as texts. Organization Studies 19 (3), 387–414.

Polkinghorne DE (1988) Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Rae D (2004) Practical theories from entrepreneurs’ stories: Discursive approaches to entrepreneurial learning. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 11: 195–202.

Rhodes C, Brown AD, (2005) Narrative, organizations and research. International Journal of Management Reviews 7(3): 167–188.

Richardson, L. (1990). Narrative and Sociology. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 19: 116-135.

Richardson, L. (1994). NINE POEMS: Marriage and the Family. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 23: 3-13.

Richardson, L. (1995). Writing-Stories: Co-authoring "The Sea Monster," a Writing-Story. Qualitative Inquiry. 1: 189-202.

Selden, P., & Fletcher, D. (2010). “Practical Narrativity” and the “Real-time Story” of Entrepreneurial Becoming in The Republic of Tea. ENTER: Entrepreneurial Narrative Theory Ethnomethodology and Reflexivity. (1): 51 – 74..

Smith B (2007) The state of the art in narrative inquiry: Some reflections. Narrative Inquiry 17: 391–398.

Smith B (2007) The state of the art in narrative inquiry: Some reflections. Narrative Inquiry 17: 391–398.

Smith, R., Anderson, A.R., 2004. The devil is in the e-tail: forms and structures in the entrepreneurial narratives. In: Hjorth, D., Steyaert, C. (Eds.), Narrative and Discursive Approaches in Entrepreneurship. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, pp. 125–143.

Steyaert, C. (1997). A qualitative methodology for process studies of entrepreneurship: creating local knowledge through stories. International Studies of Management & Organization, 13-33.

Love at First Sight

Love at First Sight - Wislawa Szymborska

http://www.mission.net/poland/warsaw/literature/poems/lovesigh.htm