To be or not to be: latent entrepreneurship, the networked agent and the fear factor

Ahmadi, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9761-7167 and Soga, L. R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5471-9673 (2022) To be or not to be: latent entrepreneurship, the networked agent and the fear factor. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 174. 121281. ISSN 0040-1625 doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121281

Abstract/Summary

This conceptual paper explores a potential entrepreneur’s intention to start a new venture, but not necessarily realising it. From the perspectives of actor-network theory and affective events theory, we argue that latent entrepreneurship is underpinned by micro- and macro-level factors. First, the would-be entrepreneur is inescapably connected to a heterogeneous network of relations in an entrepreneurial context that may enable or constrain entrepreneurship. Second, contextual risks and uncertainties impact the would-be entrepreneur’s cognitive appraisals of and behavioural responses to fear, to either lead to latent entrepreneurship or emergent entrepreneurship. We propose a framework to depict the interplay between the individual and context in the dynamics of latent and emergent entrepreneurship. Our contribution is twofold: First, we contribute to actor-network theory, by suggesting that fear is one of the tokens in a would-be entrepreneur’s heterogeneous network of relations that must be negotiated either for latent or emergent entrepreneurship. Second, we advance the understanding of the role of fear in the entrepreneurial process, by conceptualising fear as a context-specific phenomenon, and highlighting its dualistic nature by showing how it could be both negative and positive in the shift from latent to emergent entrepreneurship.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/100258
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121281
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Henley Business School > Leadership, Organisations and Behaviour
Uncontrolled Keywords	Latent entrepreneurship; Emergent entrepreneurship; Actor-network theory; Affective events theory; Fear
Publisher	Elsevier
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