EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Early-stage entrepreneurs’ communicative strategies in managing knowledge ambiguity

Wei Shi

Journal of Small Business Management, 2025, vol. 63, issue 4, 1594-1622

Abstract: Prior research demonstrates the importance of knowledge seeking on startup performance, but the process of accessing knowledge is less studied. Knowledge ambiguity in entrepreneurship is embedded in the complexities and interconnectedness of knowledge sources, knowledge components, knowledge transfer mechanisms, and knowledge adaptation processes. This study explores the communicative strategies entrepreneurs use to cope with knowledge ambiguity, specifically with the use of online and offline channels. Interview data were collected from 20 early-stage entrepreneurs in the knowledge-intensive industries in the New York metropolitan area. Five strategies emerged from the data: manage public visibility, optimize knowledge relevance, enhance communication efficiency, expand knowledge awareness, and access indirect knowledge. This research contributes to the knowledge of how communication and media use unfold in resource-constrained environments and to the growing literature of entrepreneurial bricolage (make do with what is at hand) in knowledge management.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00472778.2024.2397411 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ujbmxx:v:63:y:2025:i:4:p:1594-1622

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ujbm20

DOI: 10.1080/00472778.2024.2397411

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Small Business Management is currently edited by Eric Liguori

More articles in Journal of Small Business Management from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().

 
Page updated 2025-07-02
Handle: RePEc:taf:ujbmxx:v:63:y:2025:i:4:p:1594-1622