Entrepreneurial action as human action: Sometimes judgment-driven, sometimes not

Richard Hunt () and Daniel A. Lerner

Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 2018, vol. 10, issue C, -

Abstract: This article elaborates on a lively and rapidly evolving conversation central to entrepreneurship: the underpinnings of entrepreneurial action. In particular, we respond to a critique published in this journal by Brown, Packard, and Bylund (BPB), in which they argue that all EA is based on intendedly-rational judgment. The empirical reality of rational, deliberative intentionality in entrepreneurship is beyond dispute and we have argued that behavioral logics do not simply supplant intendedly-rational ones. However, mounting evidence suggests that the wide-spectrum framework developed by Lerner, Hunt and Dimov – ranging from impulse-driven, a-rational action to deeply deliberative, rational action – offers a more veridical and useful perspective. Although BPB's critique succeeds in underscoring the exciting challenges facing entrepreneurship scholars; in our view, the critique largely relies on philosophical argumentation and definitional boundary-setting that are inconsistent with decades of scientific advancement in the psychological sciences. Given this, and recent empirical evidence from entrepreneurship scholars, we think it would be counter-productive to consider entrepreneurship as the sole domain of human activity completely circumscribed by rational judgment.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial logics; Behavioral pathways; Impulse-based logics; Judgement-based logics; Non-deliberative pathways; Disinhibition; Entrepreneurial action; Business venturing; Entrepreneurship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:10:y:2018:i:c:9

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2018.e00102

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