Blooming in the cracks: Productive entrepreneurship amid institutional voids

Zeynab Aeeni*, Mehrzad Saeedikiya, Kamal Sakhdari, Vahid J. Sadeghi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Institutional entrepreneurship holds that institutions, as the rules of the game, provide payoff structures affecting the allocation of entrepreneurship to productive, unproductive, or destructive paths. Contrary to institutionalist assumptions, institutional work (IW) literature draws a broader vision of the recursive and dialectical connection between agents and institutions. IW explains how agents’ intent and capability lead to maintaining, altering, or creating institutions and direct entrepreneurial outcomes toward productive paths. The current research adopts an IW perspective to explore how productive entrepreneurship (PE) occurs in poor institutional contexts. Applying an extended case method and conducting semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, we extend the current understanding of the agent-institution interplay in entrepreneurship allocation. Our results depict a more realistic and comprehensive picture of entrepreneurship allocation to productive paths amid institutional constraints. Highlighting the role of actions and motivations, we explore different mechanisms and IW strategies entrepreneurs use to pursue PE within inefficient institutions.
Original languageEnglish
JournalSmall Business Economics
Early online date5 Sept 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 5 Sept 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature, 2024. This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use [https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/accepted-manuscript-terms], but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-024-00963-7

Keywords

  • Productive entrepreneurship
  • Allocation theory
  • Institution
  • Motivation
  • Action

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