IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eurman/v41y2023i2p251-262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the consequences of scarcity mindset: How ‘having too little’ means so much for ethnic venture failure

Author

Listed:
  • Sarpong, David
  • Maclean, Mairi
  • Oruh, Emeka Smart
  • Botchie, David

Abstract

Drawing on the psychological concept of scarcity mindset as a lens, we explore UK-based ethnic entrepreneurs' accounts of their behaviors and choices to theorize ethnic business venture failure. Our findings suggest the constraints of ‘having too little’ entrepreneurial resources can induce three organizing tensions in organizing, community embeddedness, spatial and segment spawning, and dispositional optimism––which may operate in combination or serially to precipitate ethnic venture failure. Our findings contribute to research on conflicting demands in entrepreneurship by showing how resource constraints, sometimes played out in the form of enduring inequalities within markets and society-at-large stymies the conversion of contradictory yet mutually constituting demands in organizing into potentially productive outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi & Oruh, Emeka Smart & Botchie, David, 2023. "On the consequences of scarcity mindset: How ‘having too little’ means so much for ethnic venture failure," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 251-262.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:41:y:2023:i:2:p:251-262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2021.11.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263237321001730
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.emj.2021.11.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John O. Ogbor, 2000. "Mythicizing and Reification in Entrepreneurial Discourse: Ideology‐Critique of Entrepreneurial Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 605-635, July.
    2. David Sarpong & Mairi Maclean, 2017. "Service nepotism in cosmopolitan transient social spaces," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(5), pages 764-781, October.
    3. Michael A. Lapré & Nikos Tsikriktsis, 2006. "Organizational Learning Curves for Customer Dissatisfaction: Heterogeneity Across Airlines," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(3), pages 352-366, March.
    4. Slade Shantz, Angelique & Kistruck, Geoffrey & Zietsma, Charlene, 2018. "The opportunity not taken: The occupational identity of entrepreneurs in contexts of poverty," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 416-437.
    5. Singh, Smita & Corner, Patricia & Pavlovich, Kathryn, 2007. "Coping with entrepreneurial failure," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 331-344, November.
    6. Soetanto, Danny, 2019. "Examining change in entrepreneurial networks: Using visualisation as an alternative approach," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 139-150.
    7. Mantere, Saku & Aula, Pekka & Schildt, Henri & Vaara, Eero, 2013. "Narrative attributions of entrepreneurial failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 459-473.
    8. Michael H. Morris, 2020. "The Liability of Poorness: Why the Playing Field is Not Level for Poverty Entrepreneurs," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(3), pages 304-315, September.
    9. Frank Schilbach & Heather Schofield & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2016. "The Psychological Lives of the Poor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 435-440, May.
    10. Ucbasaran, Deniz & Westhead, Paul & Wright, Mike & Flores, Manuel, 2010. "The nature of entrepreneurial experience, business failure and comparative optimism," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 541-555, November.
    11. Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2011. "The New Field of Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Studying Entrepreneurial Action Linking “What is to be Sustained†with “What is to be Developedâ€," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 137-163, January.
    12. David Maslach & Oana Branzei & Claus Rerup & Mark J. Zbaracki, 2018. "Noise as Signal in Learning from Rare Events," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 225-246, April.
    13. Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi, 2014. "Unpacking strategic foresight: A practice approach," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 16-26.
    14. Xiaohua Yang & Elly Ho & Artemis Chang, 2012. "Integrating the resource-based view and transaction cost economics in immigrant business performance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 753-772, September.
    15. Orla Byrne & Dean A. Shepherd, 2015. "Different Strokes for Different Folks: Entrepreneurial Narratives of Emotion, Cognition, and Making Sense of Business Failure," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(2), pages 375-405, March.
    16. Gabrielle A. Brenner & Louis Jacques Filion & Teresa V. Menzies & Lionel Dionne, 2006. "Problems encountered by ethnic entrepreneurs: A comparative analysis across five ethnic groups," New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(2), pages 25-34, March.
    17. Kibler, Ewald & Mandl, Christoph & Kautonen, Teemu & Berger, Elisabeth S.C., 2017. "Attributes of legitimate venture failure impressions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 145-161.
    18. Sarpong, David & Maclean, Mairi, 2016. "Cultivating strategic foresight in practise: A relational perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2812-2820.
    19. Eliada Wosu Griffin†EL & Joy Olabisi, 2018. "Breaking Boundaries: Exploring the Process of Intersective Market Activity of Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the Context of High Economic Inequality," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 457-485, May.
    20. Baker, Ted & Welter, Friederike, 2018. "Contextual Entrepreneurship: An Interdisciplinary Perspective," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 14(4), pages 357-426, July.
    21. Koellinger, Philipp & Minniti, Maria & Schade, Christian, 2007. ""I think I can, I think I can": Overconfidence and entrepreneurial behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 502-527, August.
    22. Gaylen N. Chandler & Douglas W. Lyon, 2001. "Issues of Research Design and Construct Measurement in Entrepreneurship Research: The past Decade," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(4), pages 101-113, July.
    23. Martin Andersson & Johan P. Larsson & Özge Öner, 2021. "Ethnic enclaves and self-employment among Middle Eastern immigrants in Sweden: ethnic capital or enclave size?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 590-604, April.
    24. Ali Dehghanpour Farashah, 2015. "The effects of demographic, cognitive and institutional factors on development of entrepreneurial intention: Toward a socio-cognitive model of entrepreneurial career," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 452-476, December.
    25. William Ocasio, 1997. "Towards An Attention‐Based View Of The Firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 187-206, July.
    26. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, 2016. "An integrative process model of organisational failure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3388-3397.
    27. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Todd Zenger, 2017. "Creating and Capturing Value in Repeated Exchange Relationships: The Second Paradox of Embeddedness," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 894-914, October.
    28. Wei, Chuang & Liu, Maggie Wenjing & Keh, Hean Tat, 2020. "The road to consumer forgiveness is paved with money or apology? The roles of empathy and power in service recovery," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 321-334.
    29. Frese, Michael, 2009. "Towards a Psychology of Entrepreneurship — An Action Theory Perspective," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(6), pages 437-496, November.
    30. Stuart Fraser & Francis J. Greene, 2006. "The Effects of Experience on Entrepreneurial Optimism and Uncertainty," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 73(290), pages 169-192, May.
    31. Cope, Jason, 2011. "Entrepreneurial learning from failure: An interpretative phenomenological analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 604-623.
    32. Saku Mantere & Pekka Aula & Henri A. Schildt & Eero Vaara, 2013. "Narrative attributions of entrepreneurial failure," Post-Print hal-02313027, HAL.
    33. Lisa A. Gennetian & Eldar Shafir, 2015. "The Persistence Of Poverty In The Context Of Financial Instability: A Behavioral Perspective," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 904-936, September.
    34. Ogenyi Omar & Audrey Kirby & Charles Blankson, 2003. "Acculturation and the influence of ethnicity on market orientation of African and Caribbean companies in Britain," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 81-97, September.
    35. Azmat, Fara, 2010. "Exploring social responsibility of immigrant entrepreneurs: Do home country contextual factors play a role?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 377-386, October.
    36. Betina Szkudlarek & Shou Xin Wu, 2018. "The culturally contingent meaning of entrepreneurship: mixed embeddedness and co-ethnic ties," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5-6), pages 585-611, May.
    37. Gaim, Medhanie, 2018. "On the emergence and management of paradoxical tensions: The case of architectural firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 497-518.
    38. Shepherd, Dean A. & Wiklund, Johan & Haynie, J. Michael, 2009. "Moving forward: Balancing the financial and emotional costs of business failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 134-148, March.
    39. Gouda, Hebe N. & Flaxman, Abraham D. & Brolan, Claire E. & Joshi, Rohina & Riley, Ian D. & AbouZahr, Carla & Firth, Sonja & Rampatige, Rasika & Lopez, Alan D., 2017. "New challenges for verbal autopsy: Considering the ethical and social implications of verbal autopsy methods in routine health information systems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 65-74.
    40. Tony J. Watson, 2013. "Entrepreneurship in action: bringing together the individual, organizational and institutional dimensions of entrepreneurial action," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5-6), pages 404-422, June.
    41. Trevor Jones & Monder Ram & Paul Edwards & Alex Kiselinchev & Lovemore Muchenje, 2014. "Mixed embeddedness and new migrant enterprise in the UK," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5-6), pages 500-520, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Costa, Paula L. & Ferreira, João J. & Torres de Oliveira, Rui, 2023. "From entrepreneurial failure to re-entry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Adesuwa Omorede, 2021. "Managing crisis: a qualitative lens on the aftermath of entrepreneurial failure," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1441-1468, September.
    3. Vivianna Fang He & Charlotta Sirén & Sheetal Singh & George Solomon & Georg von Krogh, 2018. "Keep Calm and Carry On: Emotion Regulation in Entrepreneurs’ Learning from Failure," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(4), pages 605-630, July.
    4. Adesuwa Omorede, 0. "Managing crisis: a qualitative lens on the aftermath of entrepreneurial failure," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-28.
    5. Castelló, Itziar & Barberá-Tomás, David & Vaara, Eero, 2023. "Moving on: Narrative identity reconstruction after entrepreneurial failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4).
    6. Jenni Dinger & Michael Conger & David Hekman & Carla Bustamante, 2020. "Somebody That I Used to Know: The Immediate and Long-Term Effects of Social Identity in Post-disaster Business Communities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 115-141, September.
    7. Khelil, Nabil, 2016. "The many faces of entrepreneurial failure: Insights from an empirical taxonomy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 72-94.
    8. Rohny Saylors & Amrita Lahiri & Benjamin Warnick & Chandresh Baid, 2023. "Looking Back To Venture Forward: Exploring Idea and Identity Work in Public Failure Narratives," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 398-429, March.
    9. Fisch, Christian & Block, Jörn H., 2021. "How does entrepreneurial failure change an entrepreneur's digital identity? Evidence from Twitter data," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    10. Albert Tchey Agbenyegah, 2019. "A Comparative Study of Rural Entrepreneurial Challenges: Towards Rural Economic Development and a Policy Framework," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 11(3), pages 58-71.
    11. Portocarrero, Florencio & Newbert, Scott & Young, Maia & Zhu, Lily, 2025. "The affective revolution in entrepreneurship: an integrative conceptual review and guidelines for future investigation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126090, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Sheng, Jie & Lan, Hao, 2019. "Business failure and mass media: An analysis of media exposure in the context of delisting event," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 316-323.
    13. Artur Raimundo Dias & Aurora A.C. Teixeira, 2014. "The Anatomy of Business Failure. A Qualitative Account of its Implications for Future Business Success," FEP Working Papers 550, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    14. Song Lin & Yasuhiro Yamakawa & Jing Li, 2019. "Emergent learning and change in strategy: empirical study of Chinese serial entrepreneurs with failure experience," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 773-792, September.
    15. Freisinger, Elena & McCarthy, Ian P., 2024. "What fails and when? A process view of innovation failure," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    16. Jenkins, Anna & McKelvie, Alexander, 2017. "Is this the end? Investigating firm and individual level outcomes post-failure," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 138-143.
    17. Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt & Trenton A. Williams & Dennis Warnecke, 2014. "How Does Project Termination Impact Project Team Members? Rapid Termination, ‘Creeping Death’, and Learning from Failure," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 513-546, June.
    18. Asif Iqbal & Mahani Binti Mohammad Abdu Shakur & Sharizal Bin Hashim & Muhammad Asif, 2025. "Entrepreneurial learning from failure: a systematic review and bibliometric analysis on its theoretical foundations, antecedents, outcomes, and an agenda for future research," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 721-765, April.
    19. Pérez, Víctor Centeno & Kansikas, Juha, 2019. "Emotions and entrepreneurship education: State of the art and future research agenda," Working Papers 02/19, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    20. Lattacher, Wolfgang & Wdowiak, Malgorzata, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Learning From Exit: How Entrepreneurs Learn and Re-emerge Stronger," 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disruptive Change (Dubrovnik, 2018), in: 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disrupt, pages 303-331, Governance Research and Development Centre (CIRU), Zagreb.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:41:y:2023:i:2:p:251-262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/115/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.