Place in Entrepreneurial Storytelling: A Study of Cultural Entrepreneurship in a Deprived Context

Abstract

We extend the cultural entrepreneurship perspective by investigating how entrepreneurs in deprived contexts gain legitimacy by leveraging proprietary and public places in their entrepreneurial storytelling. Inspired by the sociology of place, we present a longitudinal study of 10 new venture journeys over four years in Kasoa, Ghana. We identify three distinct ways places are used in entrepreneurial narratives: projective significance of place, connective significance of place, and authoritative significance of place. We show how impoverished entrepreneurs construct and communicate places in diverse ways, not only as locations, but also as material and symbolic resources that provide legitimacy for their venturing activities. Drawing from our findings, we generate a model of place-based cultural entrepreneurship and elaborate place as a central resource in cultural entrepreneurship and new venture creation in deprived contexts.

Strategic sensemaking by social entrepreneurs: creating strategies for social innovation

“…And we're visible.”. This is consistent with the findings of Kimmitt et al. (2023), suggesting that place can serve as a strategic resource to provide legitimacy for social entrepreneurship, highlighting the significance of place in the identification and implementation of social innovations.…”

“…In naming the problem, they also perceived opportunity, confirming that social entrepreneurship is socially, spatially and historically embedded, involving the interplay of perceptions of place, society, culture and ethics (Anderson et al. , 2019; Kimmitt et al. , 2023; Welter and Baker, 2021).…”

“…Like Gordon, Percy and Benjamin, the founders of Fair Trade, Patient Transport and Breakfast Clubs, Gerald, Bobby and Edward, respectively, related at interview how directly encountering the reality of acute social problems caused them to step back and think fundamentally about what had gone wrong in society. In naming the problem, they also perceived opportunity, confirming that social entrepreneurship is socially, spatially and historically embedded, involving the interplay of perceptions of place, society, culture and ethics (Anderson et al, 2019;Kimmitt et al, 2023;Welter and Baker, 2021).…”

“…This question is important because in order to establish and scale third sector organisations, greater support is required from external stakeholders than is typically the case with commercial organisations, primarily as a result of resource constraints (Dacin et al, 2011). Recent work has shown that support is often garnered through appeal to moral or spiritual convictions (Anderson et al, 2019;Khan et al, 2023;Brown et al, 2023) or through place-based legitimacy building (Mair and Marti, 2006;Sarpong and Davies, 2014;Kimmitt et al, 2022Kimmitt et al, , 2023, in turn leading to various types of strategic collaboration (Kosmynin, 2021). Recent research has examined the drivers of social entrepreneurship (Stirzaker et al, 2021(Stirzaker et al, , p. 1392, highlighting that "social entrepreneur's experiences, skills and capitals" are crucial in the pursuit of social entrepreneurship.…”

“…, 2023) or through place-based legitimacy building (Mair and Marti, 2006; Sarpong and Davies, 2014; Kimmitt et al. , 2022, 2023), in turn leading to various types of strategic collaboration (Kosmynin, 2021). Recent research has examined the drivers of social entrepreneurship (Stirzaker et al.…”