Discussion: View Thread

Organizer: Per L. Bylund, Oklahoma State U.
Presenter: Sharon Alvarez, U. of Pittsburgh
Presenter: Dimo P. Dimov, U. of Bath
Presenter: Peter G. Klein, Baylor U.
Presenter: Jeffery S. McMullen, Indiana U., Bloomington
Presenter: Mark D. Packard, U. of Nevada, Reno

Core to the understanding of entrepreneurship, perhaps most explicitly in the so-called "judgment" view, is the speculative aspect of market action, or the bearing of uncertainty. Research has recently made some progress toward understanding this concept, but it remains in many respects, akin to the Scarlet Pimpernel, elusive and difficult to both define and use in research. This workshop aims to summarize and map out our collective views on uncertainty, and identify both what remains to be done and possible ways to do it. We recognize that judgment may be one avenue for researching entrepreneurship as uncertainty-bearing, but also that there may be others. We also recognize that uncertainty, while understood as irreducible "unknowningness" and distinct from probabilistic risk, may be in need of stronger definition and, more importantly, better demarcation to guide research and establish when, where, and how it is relevant to entrepreneurship research and practice. The workshop aims to provide entrepreneurship scholars with a clarifying discussion and thereby tools to deal with uncertainty in future research.