Hope and Disappointment: How Entrepreneurial Support Actors Reconcile Ambivalence about Their Work

In response to the recent explosion in entrepreneurial support activities, research has begun to explore entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) and their effectiveness in generating desired outcomes. Despite important advancements for understanding ESOs, the literature remains surprisingly silent on the individuals therein, largely treating them as passive objects rather than agents with expectations. Our inductive study of a leading European ESO shifts focus on these individuals and how they perceive and interpret their work. This interpretation process involved constructing both an overarching sense of hope – rooted in dominant societal narratives that paint entrepreneurship as a force for positive change – and a growing sense of disappointment – derived from experiencing ineffective support and from facing dysfunctional action. Rather than numbing either one interpretation, these people reconciled both through decoupling tactics – twisted logic, denial of responsibility, and social justification – and manifested ambivalence about their work, allowing them to continue their involvement in the ESO.