We develop a subjectivist theory of entrepreneurship that focuses on individuals, their knowledge, resources and skills, and the processes of discovery and creativity, which constitute the heart of entrepreneurship. First, we establish the fundamental importance of subjectivity in entrepreneurial discovery and creativity that lead to economic change and to influencing organizational learning. S...

In 1994, the Chinese government began a program that offered state employees living in state-owned housing the opportunity to buy their homes at subsidized prices. This paper analyzes the impact of housing policy and the creation of private property on individuals’ labor market decisions with a focus on entrepreneurship. Using the reform as an exogenous change in the mobility costs and credit c...

“Der Noth gehorchend, nicht dem eignen Trieb” – Nascent Necessity and Opportunity Entrepreneurs in Germany: Evidence from the Regional Entrepreneurship Monitor (REM) Using a large recent representative sample of the adult German population this paper demonstrates that nascent necessity and nascent opportunity entrepreneurs are different with respect to some of the characteristics and attitudes ...

Opportunity identification is a core concept in entrepreneurship research and it is considered by many to be the most distinctive and fundamental of entrepreneurial behaviors (e.g., Gaglio, 1997; Venkataraman, 1997, Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Opportunity identification researchers have assumed that opportunity identification is a cognitive task and cognitive explanations of opportunity iden...

It is assumed that entrepreneurs are motivated to engage in the informal economy out of necessity for survival rather than opportunity; therefore, lacking growth aspirations and avoiding formalisation. However, there is a lack empirical research exploring entrepreneurial motivations and aspirations in developing countries. This research aims to fill this gap by exploring informal women entrepre...

Corporate entrepreneurship has been recognized as an important element in organizational performance. Organizational support in terms of training and trusting individuals within the firm to detect opportunities and in terms of resource availability has been proposed to positively influence a firm’s entrepreneurial activities. Despite the recognition of the organizational support–corporate entre...

It is almost a truism in entrepreneurship research that the entrepreneurial process begins most basically with the discovery of opportunities (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Entrepreneurship scholars have also noted that opportunities have distinctive conceptual properties (Venkataraman, 1997). Even so, it has gone almost unnoticed that the basic and distinctive nature of opportunities calls for ...