Conceptualizing and investigating entrepreneurial action in family firms: A few promising directions

Abstract

While entrepreneurship is inextricably linked to the survival, growth, and longevity of family businesses, we address the surprisingly sparse attention in the literature to the conceptual and contextual grounding of entrepreneurial action in family firms. We review the extant literature on entrepreneurial action and conceptualize as well as contextualize it for family firms. We subscribe to the subjectivist view of entrepreneurial action that views entrepreneurial opportunities as constructed by the author of the action. We integrate issues such as the impetus for action in the family, the cultivation of entrepreneurs, and crafting of opportunities in a family. We describe two methods to achieve a workable consensus on the definition and understanding of entrepreneurial actions in the family business field and provide a few promising research directions.