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Accepting the unknowables of entrepreneurship and overcoming philosophical obstacles to scientific progress

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  • Ramoglou, Stratos
  • Tsang, Eric W.K.

Abstract

In his recent commentary, Per Davidsson questions the potential of the actualization perspective of entrepreneurship to move the field forward. The actualization approach stresses that opportunities do not exist as actualized and empirically undiscovered entities, but as the profit propensities that may actualize when properly exploited. This worldview emphatically acknowledges an impenetrable region of “unknowable”: we cannot know where and when opportunities exist or whether they can be actualized by any given agent. Davidsson is, therefore, justified to doubt that the propensity conceptualization can facilitate the production of predictive knowledge involving the causal interaction between empirically tractable entities with events of “action” and “success”. However, Davidsson is unjustifiably concerned that this limitation hinders the scientific progress of entrepreneurship. This concern only reflects philosophical preoccupations of an empiricist nature, which ought to be uprooted for the study of entrepreneurship to progress along genuinely scientific pathways.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramoglou, Stratos & Tsang, Eric W.K., 2017. "Accepting the unknowables of entrepreneurship and overcoming philosophical obstacles to scientific progress," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 71-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:8:y:2017:i:c:p:71-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2017.07.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Berends, Hans & van Burg, Elco & Garud, Raghu, 2021. "Pivoting or persevering with venture ideas: Recalibrating temporal commitments," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    2. Vanderhoven, Ellen & Steiner, Artur & Teasdale, Simon & Calò, Francesca, 2020. "Can public venture capital support sustainability in the social economy? Evidence from a social innovation fund," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    3. Davidsson, Per, 2017. "Opportunities, propensities, and misgivings: Some closing comments," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 123-124.
    4. Gabriel A. Giménez Roche & Didier Calcei, 2021. "The role of demand routines in entrepreneurial judgment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 209-235, January.
    5. Berglund, Henrik & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "Visions of futures and futures of visions: Entrepreneurs, artifacts, and worlds," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    6. Karami, Masoud & Read, Stuart, 2021. "Co-creative entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    7. Walsh, Christian & Knott, Paul & Collins, Jamie, 2020. "Emotional energy and opportunity confidence," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    8. Gaylen N. Chandler & Michael S. McLeod & J. Christian Broberg & Alexander McKelvie & Dawn R. DeTienne, 2024. "Customer engagement patterns and new venture outcomes," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1117-1138, October.
    9. Ramoglou, Stratos & Gartner, William B. & Tsang, Eric W.K., 2020. "“Who is an entrepreneur?” is (still) the wrong question," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).

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