Grappling with the Unbearable Elusiveness of Entrepreneurial Opportunities

TLDR

Opportunity is a theoretically exciting but empirically elusive concept in entrepreneurship research. The article seeks to stimulate a new conversation about entrepreneurial opportunities by distinguishing formal and substantive behavior and encouraging dialogue between qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how opportunities emerge and evolve at the individual level. The authors propose three empirical premises for studying opportunities: as events, as actions, and as market structures. These premises generate research questions that can invigorate and broaden the study of entrepreneurial opportunities.

Abstract

The notion of opportunity, as currently discussed in entrepreneurship research, is theoretically exciting but empirically elusive. This article seeks to stimulate a new conversation about entrepreneurial opportunities by distinguishing two conceptions of entrepreneurial behavior—formal and substantive—and situating the construct of opportunity within the latter. It discusses three substantive premises for studying opportunities empirically: (1) opportunity as happening; (2) opportunity as expressed in actions; and (3) opportunity as instituted in market structures. These premises stimulate research questions that can invigorate and expand the study of entrepreneurial opportunities. They invite a continuous dialogue between qualitative and quantitative methodologies in behalf of understanding how opportunities emerge and evolve at the level of individual entrepreneurs.