On entrepreneurial decision logics under conditions of uncertainty: an attempt to advance the current debate

Uncertainty plays a crucial role for most entrepreneurship theories and is thus at the core of entrepreneurship research. Despite decades of research efforts, the notion of uncertainty is still somewhat vague and elusive, however. Consequently, desirable improvement of our understanding of uncertainty requires further considerations. Fortunately, in a recent paper published in the Academy of Management Review, Packard and Clark (Academy of Management Review, 2019) contribute their ideas on the subject. The study in question offers a novel dichotomy of uncertainty types and normatively prescribes entrepreneurial strategies associated with those different settings. The remarks of Packard and Clark have attracted opposition, however, and while appreciating the study’s efforts to refine the uncertainty construct, the present paper aims to advance the current debate. One stance adopted in the current paper to do so is to suggest supplementing research on uncertainty itself with the notion of ill-structuredness affecting decision problems. That approach makes it possible to theorize about entrepreneurial decision-making in a broader yet more nuanced way.