Venturing together! Cross-disciplinary network on the micro-dynamics, activities and development of entrepreneurial groups

• Applicant: Dr. Isabell Stamm
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Accounting and Finance
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 410547329

The field of entrepreneurship is at the verge of a paradigm shift: we observe multiple strands of research that emphasize the process of entrepreneuring as collective action undertaken by entrepreneurial groups. These groups have been defined as sets of individuals that jointly discover, evaluate and exploit opportunities. The increased interest in studying collective engagement in entrepreneurship easily obscures the fact that the empirical and conceptual knowledge about entrepreneurial groups, their micro-dynamics, activities and development is fragmented at best. This unsatisfactory state of research on entrepreneurial groups is particularly surprising given that the empirical phenomenon is not new at all, and that its relevance for an understanding of economic and entrepreneurial process has long been recognized. At present, two main issues constrain a systematic rethinking of entrepreneurship as collective activity: First, we see halting exchange between management scholars, that largely dominate entrepreneurship research, social psychologists and sociologist. Second, studying entrepreneurial groups requires a heightened complexity of the research design. This research network is a collaboration of 15 researchers in sociology, entrepreneurship and social psychology from Germany and Sweden who are empirically studying the dynamics in entrepreneurial groups. Our work plan includes three research and three knowledge transfer meetings. More specifically, we address the issues of micro-dynamics, activities and trajectories of entrepreneurial groups in two 1,5 day meetings and a research conference. During these events, we reflect upon our research findings, engage in discussions with international speakers, and exchange our methodological knowledge. The second phase of the proposed network features three 1,5 day meetings dedicated to transferring knowledge into the areas of organization theory, entrepreneurial education and policy-making. Overall, this network will contribute to fill important gaps in the conceptual and empirical knowledge about entrepreneurial groups, integrate sociological approaches into the study of this phenomenon, and raise awareness for the relevance of studying collective entrepreneurship in the field of sociology.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks