Uncertainty Types and Transitions in the Entrepreneurial Process

Mark D. Packard (), Brent B. Clark () and Peter G. Klein ()
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Mark D. Packard: Department of Managerial Sciences, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557
Brent B. Clark: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska 68182
Peter G. Klein: Department of Entrepreneurship, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798; Department of Strategy and Management, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, 5045 Bergen, Norway

Organization Science, 2017, vol. 28, issue 5, 840-856

Abstract: While judgment has hitherto typically been viewed as a discrete decision process, we propose that it be conceptualized instead as a continuous and dynamic process of reassessment and revision. Adopting this approach, we revisit the nature of entrepreneurial decision making under uncertainty. We begin with a novel typology of uncertainty that defines and delineates different types of uncertain contexts. We then examine the nature of decision making within these distinct contexts, highlighting differences in how entrepreneurs make decisions within different types of uncertainty. We build these insights into a theory of the entrepreneurial process that highlights the transitory nature of uncertainty as entrepreneurs make certain judgments and revise those judgments over time. We discuss how uncertainty transitions throughout the judgment process, how the judgment process continues dynamically even after a judgment is made, and how the nature of uncertainty shifts over time due to endogenous and exogenous change.

Keywords: uncertainty; entrepreneurship; decision making; process (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (92)

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