Interpretation of successful and failed events at entrepreneurial firms: acknowledgement practice under uncertainty

Johnson, D. , Bock, A. J. and Thompson, A. (2021) Interpretation of successful and failed events at entrepreneurial firms: acknowledgement practice under uncertainty. International Small Business Journal, (doi: 10.1177/02662426211056303) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Event interpretation and acknowledgement drive behaviour and identity formation in organisations. Extant studies exploring this link have focused on large, stable organisations. We extend these studies to entrepreneurial contexts where individual behaviour and organisational identity are especially fluid. We analyse narratives of success and failure in entrepreneurial firms to identify and explore acknowledgement practice, which is the ad-hoc action (or inaction) of organisational actors and groups responding to observed events. We explore how uncertainty affects event interpretation and acknowledgement. Within entrepreneurial contexts, we show that event interpretation and acknowledgement biases influence responses to success and failure. The combination of these biases reveals four broad emergent organisational characteristics, which have important implications for organisational identity.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Johnson, Dr David
• Authors: Johnson, D., Bock, A. J., and Thompson, A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: International Small Business Journal
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 0266-2426
• ISSN (Online): 1741-2870
• Published Online: 16 December 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in International Small Business Journal 2021
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License