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Exceptionality in entrepreneurship: Systematically investigating outlier outcomes

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  • Clark, Daniel R.
  • Crawford, G. Christopher
  • Pidduck, Robert J.

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is the study of ordinary people doing extraordinary things: outliers in society, seeing and enacting new venture opportunities, while most others do not. Historically, the field of entrepreneurship has been dominated by competing homogeneity and heterogeneity perspectives. Extending current heterogeneity trends in the domain, this article builds the case for the benefits of examining the exceptional of the exceptional: entrepreneurs that produce extraordinary results. We argue that outlier entrepreneurs are not aberrations or empirical nuisances to be explained away or “fixed” through statistical wizardry. Rather, in most entrepreneurship phenomenon, those extremely high performing and disproportionately influential cases are “the goal” of entrepreneurship, and exactly where valuable theory-building potential lies. Building on several growing conversations in entrepreneurship research, we introduce why some phenomenological domains share characteristic potential for generating important insights using an outlier approach and present a set of methodological tools to tackle them.

Suggested Citation

  • Clark, Daniel R. & Crawford, G. Christopher & Pidduck, Robert J., 2023. "Exceptionality in entrepreneurship: Systematically investigating outlier outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:20:y:2023:i:c:s2352673423000513
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00422
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    3. Kleinhempel, Johannes & Estrin, Saul, 2024. "Realizing expectations?," MPRA Paper 120863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Pidduck, Robert J. & Hechavarria, Diana & Patel, Ajay, 2024. "Cultural tightness emancipation and venture profitability: An international experience lens," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).

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