Unconventional entrepreneurship
Introduction
‘Unconventional’ is a rather trendy word in the management realm. When a scholar wants to break free from previous works, s/he states that s/he is studying an unconventional phenomenon or developing an unconventional approach. This may be a way of avoiding formulaic research and routine content (Alvesson & Gabriel, 2013). Unconventional ‘somethings’ have flourished across management disciplines such as “unconventional marketing” (Cova & Saucet, 2014), “unconventional finance” (Buchner & Wilkinson, 2015), “unconventional management research” (Clair et al., 2016), and even “unconventional research contexts” (Bamberger & Pratt, 2010). Much of the time, these works overly use terms such as “alternative” or “new” in attempting to break with the mainstream of their discipline.
Here, we propose returning to the etymology of unconventional: not adhering to established convention or accepted standards. In the entrepreneurship discipline, an established convention corresponds to the standard – if not canonical – profile of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur. Even if the last decade has seen a flurry of research on such alternative profiles as the accidental entrepreneur (Shah & Tripsas, 2007), the user entrepreneur (Haefliger, Jäger, & Von Krogh, 2010), and the lifestyle entrepreneur (Bredvold & Skålén, 2016), entrepreneurship seems to face difficulties in breaking free from the Schumpeterian figure.
The point of departure to breaking free from it is thus the notion of opportunity recognition that lies at the core of the entrepreneurial process. Ardichvili, Cardozo, and Ray (2003, p.106) argue that “identifying and selecting the right opportunities for new businesses are among the most important abilities of a successful entrepreneur”. Conventionally, and corresponding to the stereotypical entrepreneur, opportunity recognition consists in recognising the opportunity first and then developing an organisational development path as described in the traditional literature. Unconventionally, we argue that opportunity recognition is not a necessary first step, and that the desperate search for opportunities could end in failure. We propose looking at entrepreneurship as a shared passion and communal incentive to develop something that could become a successful business venture. Passion and interaction with other passionate people as well as the environment lead to generating potential opportunities (Cova & Guercini, 2016). We thus argue that the entrepreneur's profile pertains to the single entrepreneur, while obviously the literature has moved on to consider the entrepreneurial team (Lechler, 2001) and the community sharing the passion (Martin & Schouten, 2014).
The unconventional entrepreneur distances himself from the mythical figure of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur. “Unconventional” entrepreneurship is neither bound by nor accords with the conventional approach involved in planning, launching, and developing a new venture. By definition, “conventional” entrepreneurs operate in an uncertain environment (Knight, 1921) where they are able to create Schumpeterian opportunities in view of the opportunity-seeking activities or alertness and readiness to recognize them (Casson, 1982; Kirzner, 1979). This means they are prepared to take responsibility for overcoming the challenges inherent in ever-present uncertainty. By so doing, they make things easier for other actors (wage-earners, banks, etc.), but in exchange expect to be rewarded. The problem with this model is the rapid acceleration of change in information-rich societies (Rosa, 2013) in which uncertainty has become so widespread that it transcends elite entrepreneurs' traditional areas of intervention. In liquid times, society requires people to take an entrepreneurial stance, not primarily due to the need to incorporate technological innovations or maximize profit, but because entrepreneurship offers a way to cope with precariousness and uncertainty.
In an unstable world, people may be reassured by (and hang onto) passions they can use as springboards to act on the world that surrounds them (Seregina & Schouten, 2017). Such passions become “sources of stability” (Castel, 2009) and can, when developed across a wide range of leisure or hobby activities, lead to new forms of entrepreneurship. Indeed, an entrepreneur's commitment may be fuelled by motives superseding the rational search for profit; it could be based on passions unrelated to professional experience but linked to personal aptitudes and leisure preferences. Such passions are located in other domains of the actors' existence, namely, consumption instead of production. After all, the main driver of most consumption is passion, since this is what causes individuals to consume certain products or brands and share their passion with fellow users/consumers (Stebbins, 2007). At the same time, most passions foster the development of competencies, skills, and knowledge. In turn, this sparks innovation (Martin & Schouten, 2014).
Consumption and entrepreneurship have long been recognised as fundamental economic and social phenomena (Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010). The interface between the two is increasingly relevant for research on consumers, business owners, and manager experience. Consumer experience and entrepreneurship are commingled for many entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial consumers have commercialised their personal leisure innovations in industries ranging from sporting equipment to youth products, stereo components, or new media. Recent studies propose new business models (Guercini, 2014) revolving around users' lifestyles and experiences (Shah & Tripsas, 2007). There is, however, another way to analyse the connection between consumption and entrepreneurship (Goulding & Saren, 2007). Consumers gain expertise, and their experience is fuelled by passions that bind them to a community (Haefliger et al., 2010; Hietanen & Rokka, 2015). Passions – along with skills and social relationships (Guercini & Ranfagni, 2016) – then become key factors in generating entrepreneurship, as in the case of Nick Woodman who invented the GoPro to share his consuming passion for surfing.
Contemporary consumption might then be construed as a reservoir of skills, passions, and communities enabling innovative entrepreneurship that in turn creates a positive dynamic for the economy, for people, and for society in general.
The focus in this conceptual paper is on the main dimensions of unconventional entrepreneurship spanning consumption and innovation. Thus, in the first section, we focus on the role of passion as a stabilising force. The emphasis here is on the different types of passion and how they correspond with entrepreneurship. In the second section, we look at the entrepreneur's passion, and particularly the role that fan tribes play in this variant. The third section contextualises the emergence and diffusion of these forms of non-conventional entrepreneurship, detailing how Western societies have been liquefied and have changed people's lives. The final section looks at how this unconventional entrepreneurship affects individual wellbeing. In sum, these sections capture the main themes evoked throughout this special issue, namely, unconventional entrepreneurs, liquid society, domain passion, connecting passion, emotional labour, and cultural competency.
Section snippets
Passions and entrepreneurship
Perseverance is a leading challenge in today's world, a challenge that increasingly confronts people with instability, insecurity, and uncertainty (Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2017). Since the 17th century, work has structured Western societies' relationship to the world, as well as the social relations and the general Weltanschauung. In more recent times, however, work has become less of a stabilising factor and has largely mutated into a fleeting “liquid” (Bauman, 2007). Lifetime employment in a
It takes a tribe: The role of community for entrepreneurship
Nick Woodman, founder and CEO of GoPro, tells his story in the following words: “I first really started developing the idea back in 2002 while on surf trip in Australia with a couple of friends. We were living out of a Toyota van, putting in about 5,000 miles surfing the East, South and West Coasts. I was spending most of my time in the water, sharing amazing moments and waves with my friends. I was also shooting photos (this was pre-YouTube!) from the beach, but from that distance my shots
Unconventional entrepreneurship in liquid times
A key question is why unconventional entrepreneurship has started to emerge at this time. One fundamental factor is the accelerating change (Rosa, 2013) that has come to characterise Western societies, encapsulated in Bauman's (2007) concept of liquid modernity. Bauman (2007) uses the metaphor of liquidity to explain how everyday life moved from being stable and secure to greater uncertainty and rapid change. He also applies the adjective in a very precise context. Society is to be considered
Governmentality and the dark side of unconventional entrepreneurs
For most people today, unconventional entrepreneurship represents absolute emancipation, allowing the perfect combination of private passion and professional success. Emancipation is usually defined as the process of being liberated from constraints that can be physical, intellectual, moral, or spiritual (Alvesson & Willmott, 1992). Having said that, a more critical vision does exist based on the Foucaldian notion of governmentality (Foucault, 1988) and its extremisation in a neoliberal
Conclusions
This conceptual piece focuses on unconventional entrepreneurship in light of the recent transition to a liquid society and the consequences for (mainly Western) individuals and entrepreneurship. The article reveals the centrality of passion - lived in a community or tribe context – as a way for people to give meaning to their personal lives. Against this backdrop, the rise of impassioned entrepreneurship becomes a vehicle to imbue professional life with meaning. Connecting passions that link
Acknowledgements
The authors would to thank the two reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments on the first version of this paper.
Simone Guercini, Ph. D., is a Professor of Management at the University of Florence, Italy. His Current research interests include internationalization, business networks and entrepreneurship in Communities.
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Simone Guercini, Ph. D., is a Professor of Management at the University of Florence, Italy. His Current research interests include internationalization, business networks and entrepreneurship in Communities.
Bernard Cova, Ph. D., is a Professor of Marketing at Kedge Business School, Marseille, France. His Current research interests include business networks, brand Communities and user entrepreneurship.