Blooming in the cracks: productive entrepreneurship amid institutional voids

Zeynab Aeeni (), Mehrzad Saeedikiya (), Kamal Sakhdari () and Vahid J. Sadeghi ()
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Zeynab Aeeni: University of Kurdistan
Mehrzad Saeedikiya: Queensland University of Technology
Kamal Sakhdari: University of Tehran
Vahid J. Sadeghi: Aston University

Small Business Economics, 2025, vol. 64, issue 4, No 8, 1723-1762

Abstract: Abstract Institutional entrepreneurship holds that institutions, as the rules of the game, provide payoff structures affecting the allocation of entrepreneurship to productive, unproductive, or destructive paths. Contrary to institutionalist assumptions, institutional work (IW) literature draws a broader vision of the recursive and dialectical connection between agents and institutions. IW explains how agents’ intent and capability lead to maintaining, altering, or creating institutions and direct entrepreneurial outcomes toward productive paths. The current research adopts an IW perspective to explore how productive entrepreneurship (PE) occurs in poor institutional contexts. Applying an extended case method and conducting semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, we extend the current understanding of the agent-institution interplay in entrepreneurship allocation. Our results depict a more realistic and comprehensive picture of entrepreneurship allocation to productive paths amid institutional constraints. Highlighting the role of actions and motivations, we explore different mechanisms and IW strategies entrepreneurs use to pursue PE within inefficient institutions.

Keywords: Productive entrepreneurship; Allocation theory; Institution; Motivation; Action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L26 O31 P12 P37 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-024-00963-7

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