A Socially Situated Praxeological Approach to Entrepreneurship

Abstract

What is the precise nature of entrepreneurial action in economic and business analyses? Moreover, what is the relationship between the entrepreneur’s action and the socio-institutional environment where this action takes place? The difficulty in specifying the nature of the entrepreneurial act and its interaction with the socio-institutional environment is to be found in the lack of development of an actual theory of action, in which entrepreneurship can be contextualised. This article aims at the delineation of a socially situated action theory to be used in the analysis of entrepreneurship. One of the main results of using the action theory developed in this study is that entrepreneurial action is defined by its institutional autonomy within society. This leads to the conclusion that entrepreneurial action is a tridimensional praxeological phenomenon, which integrates profit-seeking, uncertainty-bearing and ultimate power of decision-making in the one person of the acting entrepreneur.