RE-CONTEXTUALIZING OPPORTUNITY AS ARTIFACT SIGNALLING FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTION

Abstract

In exploring entrepreneurial action as a response to opportunities, this paper uses signalling theory to provide new insights as the entrepreneur moves from perception to recognition to enactment. We adopt a dynamic approach to how entrepreneurs perceive opportunities and form initial opportunity beliefs, recognizing that, over time, beliefs change. The perceived potentialities from the signals arising from opportunities also change. Strength of the initial opportunity beliefs, morph-ability of opportunities, frequency of opportunity appearances, multiple interpretations of opportunity, latency of opportunity, observability (intensity, visibility, strength and clarity), distortions of opportunity and false opportunity are topics that are not sufficiently addressed in research on entrepreneurial opportunities. We argue that the signalling effects open new avenues of inquiry related to the central role of opportunity in the entrepreneurial process. Instead of seeing opportunity from either the discovery or creation approaches, opportunity should be viewed as an artifact with embedded perceived potentialities. Implications are drawn for the developmental context.