“Then you shall know the fiction and the fiction shall set you free.” - Productive fictions in entrepreneurship and organizations
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School of Business |
Doctoral thesis (article-based)
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Language
en
Pages
54 + app. 151
Series
Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 149/2019
Abstract
This dissertation is a study of fiction as a productive element of narrative practices in and around organizations and entrepreneurship, including some potential outcomes arising from those practices. We live in a world of narratives and storytelling. This is true for most organizations, but especially important for entrepreneurship and new ventures, the talk of which is often about the construction of the future. The future, as an "as-yet-unreal" phenomena, places fiction as a key part of organizations in general and entrepreneurship in particular. The question that this dissertation addresses is, "What is the role of fiction in producing and maintaining organizations and entrepreneurial ventures?" While the topic of fiction in organization studies has been addressed through various lenses, I propose that fictional narratives are the core nature of organizations and entrepreneurship. What is missing from the current discussion on fiction in organization and entrepreneurship studies is not only that fictions produce reality, but rather that organizations are non-real – that narratives about organizations refer to an object that is not only not present but has never been present. Within organizational life the founding of companies, and even prior to that the early stages of entrepreneurship, is driven by possible futures. For that reason, the empirical setting of this dissertation is entrepreneurship – the emergence of, or efforts to create, new organizational structures for the provision of products and services that do not yet exist. In the empirical research, my co-authors and I focused on the entrepreneurial identity work of Finnish entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Their narratives serve a present purpose, which is not simply an historical account of what they have done. Rather, it is a current work of recognition. Entrepreneurs build upon a referential cycle that assembles past, present and future elements for not only their own identity work, but ultimately to produce simultaneous mutual recognition with their listeners. This compilation thesis touches on three concepts within organization studies and entrepreneurship; narrative, fiction, and recognition. Non-real objects are invoked narratively to produce reality or effects in reality, such as establish and maintain organizations, identity, opportunity, and recognition. The benefit of this approach to organizations and opportunities is primarily one of emancipation. Recognizing others as able to see the pretense of organization or entrepreneurial opportunity generates possibilities to do things differently and challenge existing practices.Description
The PDF file includes only pages 1-9 (Introduction) of the dissertation.
Supervising professor
Vaara, Eero, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Management Studies, FinlandOther note
Parts
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[Publication 1]: Savage, Paul; Cornelissen, Joep P.; Franck, Henrika. Fiction and organization studies. Organization studies, 2018, volume 39, 7, pp. 975-994.
Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201802091501DOI: 10.1177/0170840617709309 View at publisher
- [Publication 2]: Maula, Hanna; Savage, Paul; Franck, Henrika; Vaara, Eero. Helpers and opponents in entrepreneurial identity work: a narrative analysis on the growth stories of Finnish startup entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley (unpublished).
- [Publication 3]: Savage, Paul; Franck, Henrika; Maula, Hanna; Vaara, Eero. Entrepreneurial opportunity as fiction: An analysis of discursive practices in entrepreneurs’ narratives (unpublished).
- [Publication 4]: Savage, Paul. The course of recognition: in defence of the opportunity construct (unpublished).