Is Reflexivity Different from Imprinting? The Boundary for Entrepreneurial Opportunity Research

Arif Mahmood, Michael Young

    Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingConference proceedingpeer-review

    Abstract

    Currently, entrepreneurship scholars are in disagreement over the relative importance of the role played by imprinting versus reflexivity in establishing entrepreneurial ventures. Essentially, imprinting puts emphasis on entrepreneurial discovery of opportunities, while reflexivity puts emphasis on opportunity creation (Suddaby, Bruton & Si, 2015). Imprinting is better established because it has received more research as it is easier to describe and measure as a construct, while reflexivity is more abstract and more difficult to define and measure as a construct. In particular in the entrepreneurship field, the construct has been widely used as a learning mechanism but a common definition has yet to emerge. As such, the construct lacks consistency and reliability. Moreover, the ambiguity and sometimes overlap between boundaries and definitions of imprinting with reflexivity impedes progress on understanding where and how entrepreneurial opportunities originate. Therefore, in this study, we summarize the definitions and theories of reflexivity in the entrepreneurship literature. We then identify the properties of reflexivity as a construct and define it with a clear boundary. We contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by eliminating the ambiguity between reflexivity and imprinting and assist scholars wishing to use reflexivity as a construct.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationAcademy of Management Proceedings 2017
    EditorsSonia Taneja
    PublisherAcademy of Management
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2017
    Event77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2017: At The Interface - Atlanta, United States
    Duration: 4 Aug 20179 Aug 2017
    https://aom.org/events/annual-meeting/past-annual-meetings/2017-at-the-interface (Conference website)
    https://journals.aom.org/toc/amproc/2017/1 (Conference proceedings)

    Publication series

    NameAcademy of Management Proceedings
    Number1
    Volume2017
    ISSN (Print)0065-0668
    ISSN (Electronic)2151-6561

    Conference

    Conference77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2017
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityAtlanta
    Period4/08/179/08/17
    Internet address

    User-Defined Keywords

    • definition and properties
    • entrepreneurship
    • reflexivity

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