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 language | English |
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Title of host publication | Academy of Management Proceedings 2017 |
Editors | Sonia Taneja |
Publisher | Academy of Management |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2017 |
Event | 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2017: At The Interface - Atlanta, United States Duration: 4 Aug 2017 → 9 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
Name | Academy of Management Proceedings |
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Number | 1 |
Volume | 2017 |
ISSN (Print) | 0065-0668 |
ISSN (Electronic) | 2151-6561 |
Conference
Conference | 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2017 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Atlanta |
Period | 4/08/17 → 9/08/17 |
Internet address |
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User-Defined Keywords
- definition and properties
- entrepreneurship
- reflexivity