Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
4-2015
Abstract
In the context of desperate poverty, characterized by households at subsistence level that experience economic loss and social fracture, explanations for why individuals undertake entry into entrepreneurship are limited. We find that individuals rely on their social relationships to enable entrepreneurial activities that have the potential to create a reasonable income gain. In a sample of 1,049 households in rural Kenya, we test whether the disintegration of social structure attenuates entrepreneurial behavior. When coupled with factors such as income loss, gender of the household head, and access to communal resources, social structure plays a pivotal role in entrepreneurial action. We propose that the search for reasonable income gain is a key driver of entrepreneurial action at subsistence levels, thereby adding to behavioral explanations of entrepreneurship.
Keywords
Entrepreneurship, Africa, Entry, Reasonable Gain, Affordable Loss, Effectuation, Poverty, Mobility, Occupational Change, Gender, Women
Discipline
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations
Research Areas
Strategy and Organisation
Publication
Strategic Management Journal
ISSN
1097-0266
Identifier
10.1002/smj.2381
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
GEORGE, Gerard; KOTHA, Reddi; PARIKH, Priti; ALNUAIMI, Tufool; and BAHAJ, Abubakr S..
Social Structure, Reasonable Gain, and Entrepreneurship in Africa. (2015). Strategic Management Journal.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/4196
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2381