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The constructivist view of entrepreneurial opportunities: a critical analysis

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  • Stratos Ramoglou
  • Stelios Zyglidopoulos

Abstract

The notion that opportunities exist objectively “out there” has been repeatedly assaulted by scholars who counter that opportunities are subjectively constructed or created. This paper intends to restore the balance by bringing the critical strands of inquiry themselves under critical scrutiny. Beyond the formulation of some original lines of critique and the drawing of attention to some foundational yet insufficiently studied issues, this article further contributes the following: (1) it juxtaposes a taxonomical ordering of constructivist approaches; (2) it identifies angles of complementarity and contradiction with the objectivist perspective; and (3) it brings subtle conceptual distinctions into prominence. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Stratos Ramoglou & Stelios Zyglidopoulos, 2015. "The constructivist view of entrepreneurial opportunities: a critical analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 71-78, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:44:y:2015:i:1:p:71-78
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-014-9590-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Natalie Holden, 2015. "An exploration of interactive contextual and dispositional factors which influence a collective process of entrepreneurial activity: a novel case at Bristol Zoo," Working Papers 27, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Nov 2015.
    2. Per L. Bylund & Mark D. Packard, 2022. "Subjective value in entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1243-1260, March.
    3. Per Davidsson, 2023. "Ditching Discovery-Creation for Unified Venture Creation Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 594-612, March.
    4. Gabriel A. Giménez Roche & Didier Calcei, 2021. "The role of demand routines in entrepreneurial judgment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 209-235, January.
    5. Wood, Matthew S., 2017. "Misgivings about dismantling the opportunity construct," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 21-25.
    6. Gras, David & Conger, Michael & Jenkins, Anna & Gras, Michael, 2020. "Wicked problems, reductive tendency, and the formation of (non-)opportunity beliefs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    7. Erikson, Truls & Korsgaard, Steffen, 2016. "Knowledge as the source of opportunity," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 47-50.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurial opportunities; Austrian economics; Philosophy of the social sciences; Constructivist ontology; Conceptual analysis; B52; B25; L26; B53;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • B53 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Austrian

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