From the paradox of action to entrepreneurial action in entrepreneurship research[Du paradoxe de l’action à l’action entrepreneuriale dans les recherches en entrepreneuriat]

This paper aims to focus on entrepreneurial action. The first part shows that its presence in entrepreneurship research is a paradox: it is present implicitly, without being considered as an entry point for approaching the discipline. This paradox can be explained in the light of the dominating research in entrepreneurship and, in particular, of three implicit assumptions: the absence of action, reality considered as unique, and methodological individualism. The second part shows that to remove this paradox, we must design a framework for anchoring entrepreneurship research in entrepreneurial action around three explicit hypotheses: pragmatism, experienced reality, and holism. In the third part, we presentthe research directions that are opened up to the scientific community in entrepreneurship around the definition of entrepreneurial action, methodological perspectives, and the researcher's position as an included third party.