Entrepreneuriat immobilier et dispositifs sociotechniques : une analyse qualitative des trajectoires, réseaux et pratiques de gestion et de comptabilité

This paper analyzes real estate entrepreneurship in France from a qualitative and socio-technical perspective, adopting a critical reading of management and accounting practices. It aims to move beyond positivist and individualistic approaches to entrepreneurship by showing how entrepreneurial action unfolds within accounting, legal, and organizational arrangements. Based on nine semi-structured interviews conducted with real estate entrepreneurs, the study explores the co-construction of trajectories, networks, and management practices in an environment characterized by a high degree of institutional density, a plurality of technical devices, and structural interdependence with a wide range of intermediaries (notaries, banks, local authorities, accountants, craftsmen, digital platforms). This paper is grounded in critical perspectives in accounting and management, considering accounting tools and devices not as neutral instruments but as socio-technical actants (Akrich et al., 2006; Callon, 1986; Callon & Latour, 1991; Latour, 2005) that define and structure 3 entrepreneurial activity. Our findings show that, within entrepreneurial networks in the real estate sector, weak ties (Granovetter, 1973, 1983) facilitate access to information and opportunities, while strong ties contribute to the construction of professional identity and the regulation of emotional tensions. Within these networks, fiscal, legal, digital, and regulatory devices possess their own agency. In other words, they do not merely support action but define what is thinkable, acceptable, and legitimate in entrepreneurial activity. Far from being mechanically applied, these devices are often translated, negotiated, and reappropriated. However, this capacity for translation is unevenly distributed, producing power asymmetries between actors depending on their access to expertise and institutional resources. Our analysis also highlights the identity-based and political dimension of real estate entrepreneurship, understood as a process of "becoming" shaped by power relations, managerial norms, and institutional expectations. By mobilizing a multidimensional analysis, this paper contributes to research in critical accounting and entrepreneurship by offering a renewed understanding of real estate entrepreneurship as a relational, socio-technical, and institutional phenomenon, at the intersection of management practices, accounting devices, and social dynamics.