Browsing by Author "Kibler, Ewald, Prof., Department of Management Studies, Aalto University, Finland"
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School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2022) Laine, LauriWhat do people think about when they think about entrepreneurship? This dissertation is an attempt to think over this question. While research on entrepreneurship has multiplied during the last decades, theorists have failed to settle on a foundational definition and have instead 'agreed to disagree' about their common object of study. My argument is that even if entrepreneurship may remain conceptually elusive, dialogue on what it is may carry unique benefits to theory and practice. This argument is developed over the course of an introductory essay and five standalone essays. The first essay is a metatheoretical exercise in the process philosophy of entrepreneurship, which holds that entrepreneurship is a 'becoming' phenomenon requiring languages of flux and change, although words themselves can never fully capture it. We then reasoned for an archetypal understanding of the entrepreneurial process as the creation of new organizations. Theorizing this process as an heroic journey, we developed a novel understanding of entrepreneurship as the mythologization of organizational creativity. The second essay is an attempt to understand how to theorize entrepreneurship as an emancipatory phenomenon. With the 'social imaginary' concept, which refers to the pretheoretical understandings according to which people make sense of how the social world works, we argue that entrepreneurship theorizing thrives on the social imaginary of emancipation. Based on an hermeneutic reading of three emancipatory texts, we constructed three ideal types of social imagination in emancipatory entrepreneurship: strengthening, undermining, and shaping emancipatory practices. The third essay deals with the rise of 'entrepreneurialism' – an excessive and unrealistic focus on high-growth venturing – in historical context. Based on an extensive study of Joseph Schumpeter's thought, we found that while the heroization of 'the entrepreneur' can satisfy a large cluster of carriers, broader, more historically integrated views have failed to excite and gain similar support. The fourth essay applies terror management theory (TMT) to entrepreneurial motivation. Combining TMT's hedonic with Schumpeter's eudaemonic motives, I suggested a three step-model of self-esteem building through business venturing: securing distinction, appearing as worthy, and delivering a contribution. With the fifth essay, we take stock of the speculative realist move in contemporary metaphysics to argue that previously withdrawn realities can be unhid by tapping into the inherent weirdness of independently existing things. We illustrate our argument using the stories of two philosopher-entrepreneurs who aspire(d) for space colonization: the pioneer of electric jazz Sun Ra and the engineer and founder of SpaceX Elon Musk. Unearthing life in space, we then discuss the implications of a reality "out there" for organizational and entrepreneurship theorizing.