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Abstract: Throughout their lives, people face adversity and have to respond. Whether this adversity comes as a natural disaster, an organizational crisis, or a disruptive technology, for those facing adversity, the changed conditions are generally characterized by high uncertainty and time constraints and tend to be highly consequential. These contextual attributes are also common with entrepreneurial action. Indeed, entrepreneurial responses to challenging situations appear to facilitate individuals’ resilience or recovery and often help those confronting adverse events. While adversity is often thought of in terms of an event that captures people’s attention (both that of those affected and of scholars), it can also be chronic. Chronic adversity refers to negative conditions that began long ago, continue in the present, and are unlikely to end passively (or even with modest effort) in the future. For example, chronic adversity includes enduring poverty for many people living in developing countries throughout the world, groups of people who face ongoing discrimination and prejudice, and individuals without a homeland.  While the chronic nature of such adversity does not mean it cannot be resolved, many people who face chronic adversity attempt to improve their lives within their adverse contexts rather than overcoming the underlying (and, many times, institutional) constraints. In such cases, individuals can harness entrepreneurial action as a tool to improve their lives despite facing chronic adversity. In this presentation I will discuss the use of entrepreneurial action as a tool in response to adversity.

 

About Dean Shepherd

Dean Shepherd is the Ray and Milann Siegfried Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Mendoza College of Business, Notre Dame University. His research and teaching are in the field of entrepreneurship; he investigates the cognitive-emotional mechanisms of potential opportunities (noticing, evaluating, and constructing), new ventures (creating, growing, and terminating), entrepreneurial responses to adversity (events, chronic, and failure), and entrepreneurial creation and destruction (personal, social, and ecological value). Dean is a fellow of the Academy of Management. He has been awarded three honorary doctorates (Jonkoping University [Sweden], Technical University of Munich [Germany], and Lulea University of Technology [Sweden]). From the Entrepreneurs Division of the Academy of Management, Dean has been awarded the “Dedication to Entrepreneurship award”, the “Mentor Award”, and the “Foundational Paper Award” (twice). He is the past editor-in-chief of the Journal Business Venturing. He has authored over 20 books and 180 publications in top management and entrepreneurship journals with over 85,000 Google cites.