Mumpsimus and the mything of the individualistic entrepreneur.

Drakopoulou Dodd, Sarah; Anderson, Alistair R.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the persistence, in the face of considerable evidence to the contrary, of the notion that entrepreneurship is a purely individualistic practice. It may be that taking account of the dynamics of social conditioning, social interaction and the embedding process is simply too complex to be used as a heuristic; instead the convenient myth of the romantic of the heroic individual holds sway. The methodological issue of an under-socialized concept of entrepreneurship is considered, showing how methodological individualism could easily arise in explanations that risk employing contradictory levels of analysis and explanation. To conceive the entrepreneur as an atomistic and isolated agent of change is to ignore the milieu that supports, drives, produces and receives the entrepreneurial process. The entrepreneurial agent encounters the social, may be shaped by it, but in turn, employs his or her agency to change the structure.

Citation

DRAKOPOULOU DODD, S. and ANDERSON, A.R. 2007. Mumpsimus and the mything of the individualistic entrepreneur. International small business journal: researching entrepreneurship [online], 25(4), pages 341-360. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242607078561

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 31, 2007
• Online Publication Date: Aug 31, 2007
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2007
• Deposit Date: Sep 30, 2008
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 30, 2008
• Journal: International small business journal: researching entrepreneurship
• Print ISSN: 0266-2426
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-2870
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 341-360
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242607078561
• Keywords: Entrepreneurial ideology; Entrepreneurship theory; Individualism; Myth; Networks
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/215