Commitment to an Emerging Organizational Field: An Enactment Theory

Alfred A. Marcus, Marc H. Anderson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article builds an enactment theory to explain the continuing commitment of entrepreneurs to an emerging organizational field like energy efficiency and renewable energy, which is widely seen as being in the interests of society. The authors propose that when such a field is constrained by such factors as low energy prices and a lack of government support, the actions that entrepreneurs take to educate stakeholders drives the entrepreneurs' continuing commitment to the field. These actions are supported by the entrepreneurs' perceptions of the field's attractiveness, their beliefs that they produce superior products and services, and their beliefs regarding the likelihood of disruptive exogeneous change.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)181-212
Number of pages32
JournalBusiness and Society
Volume52
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2013

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was initially supported by a grant from the McKnight Foundation. Energy Alley, an organization that was devoted to the advancement of energy efficient and renewable energy businesses, assisted us in carrying out this research.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • commitment
  • enactment
  • energy efficiency and renewable energy
  • entrepreneurs
  • institutional theory
  • organizational fields
  • persistence

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