Beyond Homo Entrepreneurus: Judgment and the Theory of Cultural Entrepreneurship

Abstract

In this paper, we embrace the critique of the contemporary entrepreneurship literature offered by Foss, Klein, and Bjørnskov, and applaud their advance of the Judgment-Based Approach (JBA) as a way to broaden our understanding of entrepreneurial processes by contextualizing entrepreneurial action. However, we believe that to attain the promise of the JBA, a broader inter-disciplinary engagement beyond economics is required. Drawing on theory and arguments in the cultural entrepreneurship literature, we emphasize the fruitfulness of foregrounding the role of culture — a theoretical focus that is marginalized both in the mainstream entrepreneurship literature and in the JBA. We compare the JBA and the Theory of Cultural Entrepreneurship and outline how a wider inter-disciplinary research agenda could be advanced in entrepreneurial studies.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, culture, judgment, cultural entrepreneurship

JEL Classification: O32, O35, L26, L31