Entrepreneurial Research: Philosophies and approaches
Knowledge development is the main goal of a research. Although some studies focus on a scientific or practical approach, they emerge from the development of a research philosophy, which represents in a systematic way the beliefs and assumptions involved in the development of knowledge of a specific topic or discipline. Those assumptions can be categorized according to its function in 1) Ontological, assumptions referred to the nature of reality. 2) Epistemological, concerning knowledge development. 3) Axiological, representing the role of values and ethics.
Research paradigms emerge from the concern of the regulation of human behavior or from the viewpoint of overturning the existing state of affairs through a regulation perspective or a radical change perspective, consistently. On the other hand, the sociological paradigms emerge from the analysis of relation between subjectivism and objectivism approaches together with the types of research paradigms. The result of this intersections is 1) Radical humanist paradigms, 2) Radical structuralist paradigm, 3) Interpretative paradigm, 4) Functionalist paradigm.
There are five types of management philosophies that can take place in research: 1) Positivism concerns in avoiding the influencing of the findings. 2) Critical realism refers to what we see and experience of a phenomenon. 3) Interpretivism focus on the fact that humans create meanings. 4) Postmodernism includes the role of language. 5) Pragmatism propose that concepts are relevant when they support action. During the development of a study, it is useful to work with a deductive approach to identify a tentative premise or hypothesis, to deduce a testable position that allows us to compare arguments between existing theories, as well as to test and measure the concepts and identify if the results are or are not consistent.
Developing research in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Despite having experience in managing startups in a tech-based Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (EE), it is important to develop the skill of reflexivity, which would allow the questioning of our own thinking and actions to open the mind to new opportunities in the research field. Focusing on the ontological assumptions, the research includes the perspectives and roles of organizations (startups or tech-based companies), the management of entrepreneurial programs in EE, the entrepreneurs’ live styles, and the events related to EE development. The interrelation between those variables takes us to an epistemological emphasis, where we consider knowledge as the result of the acceptable and valid arguments proven though the findings of the research. The study on EE seeks to impulse knowledge through the development of comprehensive ways that guarantee a better success rate for entrepreneurship of this type. Through objectivism the research would include the assumptions of natural sciences, involving the reality of the role of social actors in EE. Critical Management Studies (CMS) would allow to question not only the behavior of managers, but also the societal systems within which the behavior is situated.
“Theories should track causal relationships”
When relating the variables that work together in the development of tech-based ventures, the philosophy of critical realism takes a broad importance given that it helps us to define three main approaches: 1) Empirical, to identify what we see, 2) Actual, to consider what may or may not be observed, and 3) Real, to identify the causal mechanisms of the phenomenon. The study considers an abduction approach given that the research process moves from theory to data and vice versa while linking the roles between actors and variables of an EE. The theoretical contribution that the research proposes represent a value-added contribution while combining originality and utility in the discipline, emerging from a ‘Problem-driven’ approach. The development of constructs should be embedded in a theoretical framework where measurements should be valid in the sense that they measure what they are intended to measure to reach a wide construct validity. According to this, it is important to identify the causal relationships inside the management and nature of an EE. These relationships are the ones that are exploitable for manipulation and control, unlike correlations.
“A theory has to be consistent with all the relevant phenomena of the field, which narrows the space of possible theories”
Challenges
“It is important to recognize that philosophical disagreements are an intrinsic part of business and management research”
Subjectivism represents a challenge for the researchers while getting input from EE actors. Subjectivism asserts that social reality is made of perceptions and consequent actions of social actors. On the other hand, through social constructionism we can identify that reality is constructed through social interaction in which social actors create partially share meanings and realities.
There are some key reasons for why developing a theory of this type is hard. In the research, the lack of constraints on theories by robust phenomena represents a gap for obtaining representative input. Another aspect is the way or available scope to validate the constructs. Finally, dealing with success rates of tech-based ventures in an EE has obstacles to discovering the causal relationships between variables.
References:
Corley, K. G., & Gioia, D. A. (2011). Building theory about theory building: what constitutes a theoretical contribution? Academy of management review, 36(1), 12–32.
Eronen, M. I., & Bringmann, L. F. (2021). The theory crisis in psychology: How to move forward. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1745691620970586.
Saunders, M., Thornhill, A, & Lewis, P. (2019). Research Methods for Business Students (8th ed.). London: Pearson.
