Generating New Theory In Entrepreneurship: Re-Envisioning Concept Development In Grounded Theory

Abstract

This article demonstrates why and how a discovery-oriented research agenda in the grounded theory tradition can bolster and enrich theorizing in entrepreneurship. It advances and illustrates two central ideas. From an epistemological standpoint, it underscores the potential of data-based conceptualization in the grounded theory tradition as an instrument of generating new entrepreneurship theory. From a methodological standpoint, it makes the case for a shift in the understanding and practice of grounded theorizing: away from an overemphasis on induction as central to the theorization process, towards a recognition of the role of prior theory in imaginative abductive reasoning to forge concepts and theories from empirical data. Through an exemplar, we illustrate how grounded analysis in this mode is conducted.