Top

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

Published in:

01-03-2015

Entrepreneurial sensegiving and the attention contract

Author: Dave Valliere

Published in: International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal | Issue 1/2015

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

A process model is developed in which entrepreneurs enlist stakeholders for their new ventures. According to stakeholder theory, this challenge should be insurmountable due to the extreme uncertainties regarding the ability of the new ventures to generate sufficient rents. The new model comprises two stages of contract formation: an attention contract and an investment contract. During the attention contract stage entrepreneurs gain attention by engaging in narrative sensegiving that reduces the perceived uncertainties of the new venture. By offering re-enactment of the resources controlled by the stakeholders, entrepreneurs are able to provide a credible story of future rents and therefore persuade stakeholders to support the new venture.

previous article Entrepreneurial intentions: is education enough?

next article Sex, gender, and individual entrepreneurial orientation: evidence from four countries

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Acs, Z. J., & Storey, D. J. (2004). Introduction: entrepreneurship and economic development. Regional Studies, 38(8), 871–877.CrossRef

Anderson, A. R. (2005). Enacted metaphor: the theatricality of the entrepreneurial process. International Small Business Journal, 23(6), 587–603.CrossRef

Anderson, A. R., & Warren, L. (2011). The entrepreneur as hero and jester: enacting the entrepreneurial discourse. International Small Business Journal, 29(6), 589–609.CrossRef

Arthur, W. B. (2009). The nature of technology: What it is and how it evolves. New York: Free Press.

Audretsch, D. B. (1995). Innovation and industry evolution. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Audretsch, D. B., & Fritsch, M. (2002). Growth regimes over time and space. Regional Studies, 36, 113–124.CrossRef

Barnett, M. L. (2008). An attention-based view of real options reasoning. Academy of Management Review, 33(3), 606–628.CrossRef

Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120.CrossRef

Barney, J., Wright, M., & Ketchen, D. J. (2001). The resource-based view of the firm: ten years after 1991. Journal of Management, 27, 625–641.CrossRef

Berman, S. L., Wicks, A. C., Kotha, S., & Jones, T. M. (1999). Does stakeholder orientation matter? The relationship between stakeholder management models and firm financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 42(5), 488–506.CrossRef

Broadbent, D. E. (1958). Perception and communication. London, UK: Pergamon Press

Brookey, R. A. (2007). Drawing the battle lines for the next DVD. Convergence, 13(2), 199–211.

Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. E. (1995). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 65–91.

Downing, S. (2005). The social construction of entrepreneurship: narrative and dramatic processes in the coproduction of organizations and identities. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 29(2), 185–204.CrossRef

Gaddefors, J., & Anderson, A. R. (2008). Market creation: the epitome of entrepreneurial marketing practices. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 10(1), 19–39.CrossRef

Gioia, D. A., & Chittipeddi, K. (1991). Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Strategic Management Journal, 12(6), 433–448.CrossRef

Greenley, G. E., & Foxall, G. R. (1997). Multiple stakeholder orientation in UK companies and the implications for company performance. Journal of Management Studies, 34(2), 259–284.CrossRef

Hill, R. C., & Levenhagen, M. (1995). Metaphors and mental models: sensemaking and sensegiving in innovative and entrepreneurial activities. Journal of Management, 21(6), 1057–1074.CrossRef

Holt, R., & Macpherson, A. (2010). Sensemaking, rhetoric and the socially competent entrepreneur. International Small Business Journal, 28(1), 20–42.CrossRef

Hyrsky, K. (1999). Entrepreneurial metaphors and concepts: an exploratory study. International Small Business Journal, 18(1), 13–34.CrossRef

Hyrsky, K., & Tuunanen, M. (1998). ‘Jack of all trades on Route 66’: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship as expressed in metaphors. Singapore: International Council for Small Business.

Jones, T. M. (1995). Instrumental stakeholder theory: a synthesis of ethics and economics. Academy of Management Review, 20(2), 404–437.

Kiesler, S., & Sproull, L. (1982). Managerial response to changing environments: perspectives on problem sensing from social cognition. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27(4), 548–570.CrossRef

Lounsbury, M., & Glynn, M. A. (2001). Cultural entrepreneurship: stories, legitimacy, and the acquisition of resources. Strategic Management Journal, 22, 545–564.CrossRef

Martens, M. L., Jennings, J. E., & Jennings, P. D. (2007). Do the stories they tell get them the money they need? The role of entrepreneurial narratives in resource acquisition. Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 1107–1132.CrossRef

Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853–886.

Nigam, A., & Ocasio, W. (2010). Event attention, environmental sensemaking, and change in institutional logics: an inductive analysis of the effects of public attention to Clinton’s health care reform initiative. Organization Science, 21(4), 823–841.CrossRef

Ocasio, W. (1997). Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 18(S1), 187–206.CrossRef

Ocasio, W. (2011). Attention to attention. Organization Science, 22(5), 1286–1296.CrossRef

Olsson, O., & Frey, B. S. (2002). Entrepreneurship as recombinant growth. Small Business Economics, 19(2), 69–80.CrossRef

Osterloh, I. (2004). In U. Duzendorfer (Ed.), The discovery and development of Viagra (sildenafil citrate). Sildenafil. Würzburg: Birkhäuser Verlag.

Penrose, E. T. (1959). The theory of the growth of the firm. New York: Wiley.

Pettigrew, A. M. (1979). On studying organizational cultures. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 570–581.CrossRef

Rowley, T. J. (1997). Moving beyond dyadic ties: a network theory of stakeholder influences. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 887–910.

Rumelt, R. P. (1984). In R. Lamb (Ed.), Towards a strategic theory of the firm. Competitive strategic management (pp. 556–570). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Shane, S. (2000). Prior knowledge and the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities. Organization Science, 11(4), 448–469.CrossRef

Simon, H. A. (1947). Administrative behaviour: A study of decision-making processes in administrative organizations. Chicago: Macmillan.

Simon, H. A. (1971). In M. Greenberger (Ed.), Designing organizations for an information-rich world. Computers, communications and the public interest. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.

Stevenson, H. (1985). The heart of entrepreneurship. Harvard Business Review, 85(2), 85–94.

Thomas, R. J. (1985). Problems in demand estimation for a new technology. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 2(3), 145–157.CrossRef

Thurik, R. (2003). In D. B. Audretsch & Z. J. Acs (Eds.), The impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth. Handbook of entrepreneurship research (pp. 437–471). Boston/Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Treisman, A. M., & Geffen, G. (1967). Selective attention: perception or response? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 19(1), 1–17.CrossRef

Valliere, D., & Gegenhuber, T. (2013). Deliberative attention management. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 62(2), 130–155.CrossRef

van Stel, A., & Thurik, R. (2004). The effect of entrepreneurship on national economic growth: An analysis using the GEM database. Discussion papers on entrepreneurship, growth and public policy. Jena: Max Planck Institute for Research into Economic Systems.

Vandekerckhove, W., & Dentchev, N. A. (2005). A network perspective on stakeholder management: facilitating entrepreneurs in the discovery of opportunities. Journal of Business Ethics, 60(3), 221–223.CrossRef

Venkataraman, S. (1997). The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research. In J. Katz & R. Brockhaus (Eds.), Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth (Vol. 3, pp. 119–138). Greenwich CT: JAI Press.

Venkataraman, S. (2002). In R. E. Freeman & S. Venkataraman (Eds.), Stakeholder value equilibration and the entrepreneurial process. The Ruffin series no. 3: Ethics and entrepreneurship (pp. 45–57). Charlottesville: Philosophy Documentation Center.

Weitzman, M. L. (1998). Recombinant growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(2), 331–360.CrossRef

Title: Entrepreneurial sensegiving and the attention contract
Author: Dave Valliere
Publication date: 01-03-2015
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal / Issue 1/2015
Print ISSN: 1554-7191
Electronic ISSN: 1555-1938
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-013-0273-4

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

Sex, gender, and individual entrepreneurial orientation: evidence from four countries

Measurement model in entrepreneurship and small business research: a ten year review

Entrepreneurial intentions: is education enough?

U.S. research joint ventures with international partners

Informational diversity and entrepreneurial team performance: moderating effect of shared leadership

Socio-psychological determinants of opportunity entrepreneurship