Helle Neergaard

Handbook of qualitative research methods in entrepreneurship

Contents:Foreword Sara CarterIntroduction: Methodological Variety in Entrepreneurship ResearchHelle Neergaard and John Parm Ulhoi PART I: CHOOSING A VEHICLE 1. The Entrepreneurship Paradigm (I) Revisited William D. Bygrave2. Critical Realism: A Suitable Vehicle for Entrepreneurship Research?Richard Blundel3. Researching Entrepreneurship as Lived ExperienceHenrik BerglundPART II: STARTING OUT AND GEARING UP 4. Ethnographic Methods in Entrepreneurship ResearchBruce A. Johnstone5. Building Grounded Theory in Entrepreneurship ResearchMarkus M. Makela and Romeo V. Turcan 6. An Action Research Approach to EntrepreneurshipClaire Leitch7. Recognizing Meaning: Semiotics in Entrepreneurial ResearchRobert Smith and Alistair R. Anderson 8. Media Discourse in Entrepreneurship ResearchLeona Achtenhagen and Friederike Welter9. A Foucauldian Framework for Discourse AnalysisHelene AhlPART III: GAINING SPEED 10. Sampling in Entrepreneurial SettingsHelle Neergaard11. Catching it as it HappensEthel Brundin12. Techniques for Collecting Verbal HistoriesBrian McKenzie13. Using E-mails as a Source of Qualitative DataIngrid Wakkee, Paula D. Englis and Wim During 14. The Scientification of FictionJesper Piihl, Kim Klyver and Torben DamgaardPART IV: WINDING DOWN AND ASSESSING THE RIDE 15. Assessing the Quality of Qualitative Research in EntrepreneurshipCaroline Wigren16. A Critical Realist Approach to Quality in Observation StudiesAnne Bollingtoft17. Daring to be Different: A Dialogue on the Problems of Getting Qualitative Research PublishedRobert Smith and Alistair R. Anderson18. Avoiding a Strike-out in the First InningsCandida BrushPostscript: Unresolved Challenges? John Parm Ulhoi and Helle Neergaard Index

Entrepreneurial and Business Growth and the Quest for a “Comprehensive Theory”: Tilting at Windmills?

Even though there has been sustained interest in growth for almost 50 years, relatively little is known about this phenomenon and much confusion and misunderstanding surrounds it. Based on a literature review and the articles in this special issue we make three recommendations that we believe will allow theory to advance and be applicable in practice. First, that discourse between key stakeholders is encouraged in order to achieve greater understanding. Second, that focus is placed on “growth as a process,” rather than as a “change in amount.” Third, that knowledge production requires inclusivity and pluralism in research perspectives and approaches.

Networking Activities in Technology-based Entrepreneurial Teams

Based on social network theory, this article investigates the distribution of networking roles and responsibilities in entrepreneurial founding teams. Its focus is on the team as a collection of individuals, thus allowing the research to address differences in networking patterns. It summarizes the results of two rounds of in-depth interviews carried out in 24 Danish new technology-based ventures over a period of two years and analyses the distribution of networking activity among founding team members. The article identifies six central networking activities and shows that not all founding team members are equally active ‘networkers’. The analyses identify that team members prioritize different networking activities and that one member in particular has extensive networking activities whereas other members of the team are more limited in their networking, while some even reject the notion of networking as a useful activity.

The Questions We Care about: Paradigms and Progression in Entrepreneurship Education.

One of the most frequently discussed topics in the entrepreneurship education literature is current practice in entrepreneurship education with regard to what is taught and how it is taught. The literature on entrepreneurship education is replete with statistics and reviews of entrepreneurship courses and programmes. In this paper, the authors take a different approach and propose a model that transcends the current understanding of entrepreneurship. Instead of asking what entrepreneurship education is and what it does, they ask what ideally it should be and should do. The authors suggest that there is a logical progression between existing approaches – paradigms – to teaching entrepreneurship, and that a fourth ‘new’ paradigm, ‘everyday practice’, constitutes the foundation for all other entrepreneurship education because it establishes the core entrepreneurial competence. They further identify four dimensions as the constituent elements of entrepreneurship as everyday practice.

Knowledge‐intensive entrepreneurship and human capital

This paper discusses human capital in connection with the entrepreneurial processes in knowledge‐based new ventures. Until recently, research on the founding of new ventures has focused mainly on the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs, but this trait approach tends to underestimate the role of crucial skills. The findings of this paper suggest that it is not so much inherent personality traits that influence the foundation and growth of new ventures as previous employment and entrepreneurial experience. The longer the career path prior to founding the venture, the more experience an entrepreneur has accumulated. Age thus seems to have a positive influence on the success of a newly founded venture. Furthermore, the dimensions of human capital, experience and previous employment seem to be essential in building the networks that help secure both early and continuing finance for the ventures.

Government Agency and Trust in the Formation and Transformation of Interorganizational Entrepreneurial Networks

This article examines the role of trust and government agency in the creation and evolution of interorganizational cooperation among entrepreneurial ventures in general and the influence of trust on development trajectories in particular. The multiple–case approach used draws on five in–depth case studies adopting a focal firm perspective. Trust is shown to play a critical role in the formation, maintenance, and transformation of interorganizational cooperative relationships; whereas its absence results in discontinuation. Moreover, the results suggest that government agency may unintentionally destroy existing, well–functioning, interorganizational cooperative arrangements.

Self-Efficacy: Conditioning the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Since Bandura’s original work (Social Learning Theory, Englewood Cliffs, 1977a), the self-efficacy concept has become an important variable within social psychology research. However, it has also been invoked in numerous other areas of research: organization theory, human resource theory, cognition and behavioral theory, as well as identity theory, in connection with topics such as health, stress, leadership, commitment, ethnicity, religion, gender, culture, social class, because it emphasizes values that we perceive as important in the Western world such as achievement and performance (Annu Rev Sociol 15: 291–316, 1989).

Entrepreneurship as Everyday Practice: Towards a Personalized Pedagogy of Enterprise Education:

Adopting the perspective of ‘entrepreneurship as an everyday practice’ in education, the authors conceptualize opportunities as arising from the everyday practice of individuals. Opportunities are thus seen as emanating from the individual entrepreneurs ability to disclose anomalies and disharmonies in their personal life. The paper illustrates how opportunities unfold depending on regional differences, local heritage and gender, to show how entrepreneurship education must take into account differences in context, culture and circumstance. Rather than perceiving entrepreneurship education as universalistic and searching for a generally applicable teaching approach, the authors argue that there is a need to tailor entrepreneurship education to the particular. They therefore propose that the pedagogy of entrepreneurship education should be personalized and they build a conceptual framework that contrasts two opposing views of entrepreneurship education: ‘universalistic’ and ‘idiosyncratic’. Following this distinction, they explore how different elements of entrepreneurship education may be fitted to the particular needs of each individual learner. This insight is relevant for didactic reflections on single entrepreneurship courses and for the construction of an entrepreneurship education curriculum.

New Horizons in Entrepreneurship: From Teacher-led to Student-centered Learning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the complexity and heterogeneity of entrepreneurship education. In order to achieve this objective, this paper combines educational psychology with perspectives from entrepreneurship education research to make explicit educators tacit assumptions in order to understand how these assumptions guide teaching. Design/methodology/approach – Using ethnographic analysis, the paper reports data from the continuous development and implementation of a single course over a period of ten years bringing in the educator’s and the students perspectives on their achievements and course content. Findings – The authors find that it is sometimes advantageous to invoke and combine different learning theories and approaches in order to promote entrepreneurial awareness and mindset. It is also necessary to move away from entrepreneurship education as being teacher led to being more student-centred and focused on experiential and existential lifelong l...

The Nordic Welfare Model: barrier or facilitator of women's entrepreneurship in Denmark?

Purpose – The welfare states of Scandinavia have been regarded as forerunners of gender equality, but structural barriers to womens participation in the labour market may discriminate against women and create opportunity costs delimiting womens career choices. Family policies are defined to include maternity/paternity leave, benefits, childcare and leave to take care of sick children. The aim of this paper is to increase awareness and elucidate the impact of welfare policies on womens entrepreneurship because it may impact on womens entrepreneurial behaviour. Hence, it seeks to investigate the reasons underlying this apparent anomaly so that future policies in Scandinavia and Europe may be tailored to suit the needs of female entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses publicly available statistical data combined with unique survey data from a sample of 1,000 sole proprietors (men and women), all members of the Danish Association for the Self‐employed, to identify the problems encounter...