Bending reality to your will: entrepreneurship through the lens of magical realism

Based on the use of magical realism in literary theory, we develop the construct of ‘entrepreneurial magical realism’ to explore the role of magic, spiritual beliefs, and enchantment in entrepreneurial sensemaking. The article makes three contributions. First, it provides a conceptual foundation for the analysis of magical realist sensemaking in the context of entrepreneurship, including terminology for distinguishing between the magical and realist realms and associated constructs. We also contrast magical realism with adjacent genres of storytelling such as realism, where magic is absent, and fantasy, where magic takes centre stage. Second, we show how magical realist narratives are used in entrepreneurship discourse and theorize how such narratives influence sensemaking. We theorize that entrepreneurial magical realism can facilitate the mending of the rift in the web of experience caused by the unusual, the surprising, and the extraordinary associated with entrepreneurship. Rather than introducing disbelief and scepticism, the invocation of magic can make the extraordinary seem ordinary. We theorize how entrepreneurial magical realism influences both retrospective and future-oriented sensemaking. Third, we provide a research agenda as there are needs and opportunities for both theoretical and empirical research on the role of magic, spiritual beliefs, and enchantment in an entrepreneurship context.