The artisans' dilemma: Artisan entrepreneurship and the challenge of firm growth

Shelby J. Solomon and Blake D. Mathias

Journal of Business Venturing, 2020, vol. 35, issue 5

Abstract: An increasing number of entrepreneurial ventures are growing at exponential rates despite their founders' professed intentions not to grow their firms. We refer to these individuals as artisan entrepreneurs. Through an inductive, phenomenon-based research approach, we explore how artisan entrepreneurs subscribe to a counter-institutional identity yet engage in a divergent set of behaviors. We discover that artisans' counter-institutional identity contains two sides—promoting the exclusion of ‘who we are not’ (oppositional identity) or providing support for ‘who we are’ (relational identity). We theorize that artisan entrepreneurs' differing views regarding their independence led to very different approaches to growth. When artisans either do not see forms of external control as impinging on their independence or sense that serving stakeholders is a means to perform relational identity work, they embrace growth. Thus, artisans may find that growth serves stakeholders, but funding growth brings about financial pressures, which may force the artisan down a path of growth.

Keywords: Qualitative research; Artisan entrepreneurship; Counter-institutional identity; Oppositional identity; Relational identity; Firm growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:35:y:2020:i:5:s0883902618306906

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106044

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