Title: Entrepreneurial situations, definition and interests for entrepreneurial research

Authors: Christophe Schmitt; Julien Husson

Addresses: Instituts d'administration des entreprises (IAE), University of Lorraine, France ' Instituts d'administration des entreprises (IAE), University of Lorraine, France

Abstract: This article falls within the current debates on the notion of opportunity. To enrich this debate, we propose to mobilise a concept that is emerging in the French research but is little used in the entrepreneurship research - entrepreneurial situations. By using examples that show the importance of the relation between entrepreneur, opportunity and context, this article emphasises the importance of the entrepreneurial situation in research related to this field. Thus, it goes beyond a rational logic to move towards a cognitive approach of entrepreneurial situations. A definition of the concept of entrepreneurial situation is provided herein, and the characteristics related to the notion of entrepreneurial situation are discussed. The article ends with a discussion on the avenues of research generated by the notion of entrepreneurial situations.

Keywords: entrepreneurial situations; cognition; opportunity; problematisation; lived experience; entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial opportunities; France.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2017.081037

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2017 Vol.30 No.1, pp.22 - 37

Received: 16 Dec 2015
Accepted: 16 Jan 2016
Published online: 19 Dec 2016 *

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