ENTREPRENEURIAL ARCHETYPES IN MAKING SENSE OF THE STRUCTURAL HOLES (SUMMARY)

2010

Antti J Kauppinen Puhakka, Vesa

Entrepreneurial qualities have been discussed for over twenty years, but there is no consensus about how much the personality differences vary between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs (Gartner 1989; Delmar 2006; Busenitz & Barney 1997 see Kirzner 1997; Gaglio & Katz 2001). The entrepreneurial activities, processes, networks, events, and structural holes are widely discussed, but the problem of the mythic entrepreneur has remained an unsolved matter (Obgor 2000; Bruni, Gherardi & Poggio 2004; Mirchandani 1999). Nevertheless, social ties in particular are seen to be different between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs (Burt 1992; Venkataraman 1997; Sarasvathy 2001 see Granovetter 1973). Approaches considering social ties and structural holes neglect the fundamental nature of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, as the actors are separated from their context (Sarasvathy 2004; Gartner 1989). In this study, we used a sense-making approach in investigating the context-dependent phenomenon of the subjective creation of the structural holes (see Burt 1992; Burt, Hogarth & Michaud 2000; Burt 2004). We argue that the entrepreneurs are no different than other people as persons, but instead they are different as sense-makers in the creation of structural holes (see Weick 1995; Berger & Luckmann 1966). Therefore, it is more meaningful to discuss the entrepreneurial archetypes rather than personality differences.

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