‘Non-Routine Entrepreneurs’: Another Path of Realizing Entrepreneurial Intentions

Alexander Chepurenko

doi:10.3390/admsci9020038

Abstract

The paper seeks to introduce the definition and to specify the characteristic features of “non-routine entrepreneurs”. Using the notion of entrepreneurship by Shane and Venkataraman (2000), it explains “non-routine entrepreneurs” as persons driven primarily by the idea of exploring entrepreneurial opportunities, but less interested in being formally engaged in owing/managing a business or to claim additional incomes from it. The empirical base of the papers is two cases, labelled as a “patriot” and a “big tipster”, from a panel of entrepreneurs, self-employees and start-ups the author surveyed in Moscow in three annual waves (2013–2015, N = 13). The paper shows the differences between the “non-routine entrepreneurs” and already well investigated groups (latent entrepreneurs, informal entrepreneurs, hybrid entrepreneurs, freelancers) and examines the personal (human capital) and social (transitional shock) context of the evolution of entrepreneurial intentions and their motivation. The “non-routine-entrepreneurs” fill in the lack of evidence about entrepreneurially minded persons with non-monetary goals, or non-economic meaning of results from such activities. Thus, the paper contributes to the literature on the reason and the intentionality of entrepreneurship. It concludes that “non-routine entrepreneurship” might become the choice of many people in contemporary societies where the boundaries between different kinds of economic activities are blurred.

Highlights

The definitions of entrepreneurship in the economic literature mostly insist that “entrepreneurship is strictly unthinkable absent ownership of assets, and it asserts that entrepreneurship is tied to firm formation” (Foss and Klein 2015, p. 587)
Our first case seems to be driven by idealistic goals, such as the revitalization of “Russian glory”
This case is a good example of what is called in the literature on entrepreneurial intentions; “attunement”, characterizing “visionary entrepreneurs, who pursue both noneconomic and economic values . . . some entrepreneurs use their organizations and resources to foster . . . a certain ideology” (Bird 1988, p. 450)

Summary

Introduction

The definitions of entrepreneurship in the economic literature mostly insist that “entrepreneurship is strictly unthinkable absent ownership of assets, and it asserts that entrepreneurship is tied to firm formation” (Foss and Klein 2015, p. 587). The definitions of entrepreneurship in the economic literature mostly insist that “entrepreneurship is strictly unthinkable absent ownership of assets, and it asserts that entrepreneurship is tied to firm formation” Such an approach automatically reduces the domain of entrepreneurship research to value creation related to numbers of self-employment, start-ups and small firms. It oversees many facets of entrepreneurship in contemporary society, such as “political entrepreneurs” (DiMaggio 1988; Fligstein 1997; Rao 1998 etc.) and other “non-market actors . Intentions are usually defined as indications of a person’s readiness to perform a specific behavior (Fishbein and Ajzen 2010, p. 39); more concretely,

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Results

Conclusion