Enduring Entrepreneurship: Antecedents, Triggering Mechanisms, and Outcomes

• Author: Peter Jaskiewicz,R. Duane Ireland,David J. Ketchen,James G. Combs
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1234
• Published date: 01 December 2016
• Date: 01 December 2016

ENDURING ENTREPRENEURSHIP: ANTECEDENTS,

TRIGGERING MECHANISMS, AND OUTCOMES

PETER JASKIEWICZ,

1

* JAMES G. COMBS,

2

DAVID J. KETCHEN, JR.,

3

and R. DUANE IRELAND

4

1

John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

2

College of Business, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.

3

Harbert College of Business, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, U.S.A.

4

Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, CollegeStation, Texas, U.S.A.

INTRODUCTION

In the early 1960s, two unknown bands released

their first songs, which subsequently climbed atop

the U.K. charts, resulting in the bands quickly

gaining success on a worldwide basis. One of these

bands, B. Bumble and the Stingers, would have just

one No. 1 hit. Because of this, the band is known

mainly to music historians. The other band, the

Rolling Stones, would release a number of hits, sell

hundreds of thousands of concert tickets, and

become legendary performers over the next several

decades.

Since its inception, those conducting

entrepreneurship-related research have sought to

clearly define entrepreneurship and identify its key

antecedents (e.g., Sarasvathy, 2004; Shane and

Venkataraman, 2000). Despite important insights

into the factors that nurture entrepreneurship and

new venture formation, researchers have expended

less effort to identifying the factors that encourage

previously entrepreneurial actors (i.e., individuals

and organizations) to engage in repeated acts of

entrepreneurship. Although one might think that

entrepreneurial actors are repeatedly entrepreneurial

by definition, this is not the case. In fact, the vast

majority of entrepreneurial actors, like B. Bumble

and the Stingers, are successful only during a

relatively short period of time, after which they

undergo more traditional life cycles—i.e., growth,

maturity, and eventually, decline (Covin and Slevin,

1990).

Interestingly, however, some entrepreneurial

actors engage in repeated entrepreneurial acts,

which continue to lead to successful outcomes

(Jaskiewicz, Combs, and Rau, 2015; Wright,

Robbie, and Ennew, 1997). Like the Rolling

Stones, they find ways to reinvent themselves and

adapt creatively to environmental shifts and jolts.

The purpose of this special issue is to investigate

these actors and the actions they take as a means

of taking initial steps toward developing theory to

explain what makes repeated , or ‘enduring,’

entrepreneurship so rare. In essence, we wish to

understand the difference between singular (‘one-

hit wonder’) entrepreneurship and enduring

entrepreneurship. For the purpose of this research,

we define enduring entrepreneurship as actors’

repeated pursuit of novel opportunities over time.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ENDURING

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Schumpeter (1934) explained that acts of

entrepreneurship include creating new products and

services, adopting innovative production

technologies, entering new markets, developing new

raw materials, and implementing new ways of

Keywords:enduring entrepreneurship;entrepreneurial resources;

entrepreneurial identity

*Correspondence to: Peter Jaskiewicz, John Molson School of

Business, Concordia University, 1450 Guy Street, Montreal,

QC, Canada. E-mail: peter.jaskiewicz@concordia.ca

Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

Strat. EntrepreneurshipJ.,10:337–345 (2016)

Published online4 November 2016 in Wiley OnlineLibrary (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/sej

Copyright © 2016 Strategic Management Society

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