Entrepreneurial learning; intuiting, scanning, internalizing and routinizing

Abstract

Purpose Despite an increasing number of publications focusing on the phenomenon of entrepreneurial learning, it is still unclear how this learning process differs from wider organizational learning. This paper aims to address this gap by highlighting four key processual dimensions unique to entrepreneurial learning: intuiting, scanning, internalizing and routinizing. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on various conceptual and empirical papers published in this area over the past 20 years, common threads in the literature are identified, which point towards these four key dimensions of entrepreneurial learning. Findings It is thus argued that the ability of the entrepreneurial team to learn form and adapt to changes in the external market involves all four dimensions of intuiting, scanning, internalizing and routinizing. Intuiting involves drawing on prior knowledge to create new opportunity sets, and skills. These ideas and skills are then tested in the market, through scanning and market research. Internalizing allows the entrepreneurial team to question taken for granted assumptions, as existing ways of working and views of the world are continually adapted. Finally, routinization is the process whereby the entrepreneurial team accumulates a situated knowledge of the changing world around them, and in the process, frees up valuable cognitive resources, needed in the continual process of intuiting, scanning and internalizing. Originality/value It is argued that the adaptability of entrepreneurial ventures hinges on all four processual dimensions.

Guest editorial

“…Furthermore, can a concept like OEL be empirically identified, and what is its nature? The articles in this special issue, such as Haneberg (2019), Breslin (2019), El-Awad (2019) and Bonfanti et al (2019), exemplify the importance of this discussion.…”

“…The six papers in this special issue also exemplify and demonstrate that EL research is rather diverse and may not share a common theoretical core, as highlighted by the articles by Nogueira (2019) and Breslin (2019). There is, however, a strongly shared interest among scholars into learning in conjunction with entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavior of individuals, teams and organizations.…”

“…In a conceptual article, Breslin (2019) suggests some answers to the difficult questions raised by Nogueira's article (2019). Like the previous article, Breslin argues that it is unclear how EL differs from the learning of non-entrepreneurs and from wider OL.…”

“…An important implication of the articles by Nogueira (2019) and Breslin (2019) is the need to initiate a debate over what makes EL unique. Thus, the field of EL may need to debate and clarify what is “entrepreneurial” about EL.…”

“…This is particularly appropriate when examining the learning of collective entities, such as teams and organizations. The conceptual article by Breslin (2019) represents as a promising point of departure for conducting empirical research on OEL. Moreover, the article by Bonfanti et al (2019) suggest that EL and OL have different enablers.…”