The emergence of entrepreneurship in organizations : joint decision-making about new sales practices in management group meeting interaction

Abstract

This study examines the emergence of entrepreneurship in organizations. The material consists of the audio-recorded meetings of management group members in one Finnish firm specialized in management services. The analysis illustrates how the members jointly negotiated new entrepreneurial sales practices in their meeting interaction but failed to demonstrate commitment to their future application. The findings conceptualize the emergence of entrepreneurship as a collaborative, four-stage decision-making process based on shared understandings of entrepreneurial ideals. They further suggest that this process is contingent on the agreement and commitment of organizational members to whom the responsibility to apply entrepreneurial practices in their daily work is assigned. (original abstract)