Entrepreneurship and uncertainty: a phenomenological approach

Abstract

Uncertainty has been, for more than a hundred years now, a topic of interest for both the economic and strategic literatures. While uncertainty is often depicted as a generator of threats that ought to be thwarted by means such as strategic planning, a part of the economic literature construes it as a source of opportunities, as the sine qua non condition of entrepreneurial action even. The entrepreneur would be this highly confident and energetic individual, willing to embrace the uncertainty of his or her environment and leverage the opportunities arisen from the chaos. Yet, although these theories (the most famous being Frank H. Knight’s) have boasted important popularity and legitimacy over the years, more recent research has started to put them into question, arguing that uncertainty is much more than a macroeconomic concept and that it mainly hinges on the individual’s experience of it. Thus, using a phenomenological approach, this study aims at answering the following question: “ Compared to the economic-strategic literature relating to entrepreneurship and uncertainty, how do entrepreneurs actually experience and act upon uncertainty?”

This study brings forth a number of interesting insights on how entrepreneurs conceptualize their role, the uncertainty of their environment, and what factors influence their perception and appraisal of uncertainty among other things. By studying entrepreneurial action and uncertainty as a lived experience, we build on and nuance previous entrepreneurship and uncertainty theories.