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.
AlbertS.AshforthB. E.DuttonJ. E. (2000). Organizational identity and identification: Charting new waters and building new bridges. Academy of Management Review, 25, 13-17.
2.
AldrichH.FiolC. M. (1994) Fools rush in: The institutional context of industry creation. Academy of Management Review, 19, 645-670.
3.
AldrichH.ZimmerC. (1986). Entrepreneurship through social networks. In SextonD.SmilorR. (Eds.), The art and science of entrepreneurship (pp. 3-23). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
4.
BarleyS. R.TolbertP. S. (1997). Institutionalization and structuration. Studying the links between action and institution. Organization Studies, 18, 93-117.
5.
BaronR. M.KennyD. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
6.
BatesT. (2005). Analysis of young, small firms that have closed: Delineating successful from unsuccessful closures. Journal of Business Venturing, 20, 343-358.
7.
BrouwerM. (1991). Schumpeterian puzzles. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
8.
BusenitzL. W.WestG. P.IIIShepherdD.NelsonT.ChandlerG. N.ZacharakisA. (2003). Entrepreneurship research in emergence: Past trends and future directions. Journal of Management, 29, 285-308.
9.
CamererC.LovalloD. (1999). Overconfidence and excess entry. American Economic Review, 89, 306-317.
10.
CastrogiovanniG. J. (2002). Organization task environments: Have they changed fundamentally over time?Journal of Management, 28, 129-150.
11.
ChoiY. R.ShepherdD. A. (2004). Entrepreneurs’ decisions to exploit opportunities. Journal of Management, 30, 377-395.
12.
CooperA.WooC.DunkelbergW. (1988). Entrepreneurs’ perceived chances for success. Journal of Business Venturing, 3, 97-108.
13.
Cooper-HakimA.ViswesvaranC. (2005). The construct of work commitment: Testing an integrative framework. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 241-259.
14.
DanneelsE. (2003). Tight-loose coupling with customers: The enactment of customer orientation. Strategic Management Journal, 24, 559-576.
15.
DeesJ. G.StarrJ. A. (1992). Entrepreneurship through an ethical lens: Dilemmas and issues for research and practice. In SextonD. L.KasardaJ. D. (Eds.), The state of the art of entrepreneurship (pp. 89-116). Boston: PWS-Kent.
16.
DiMaggioP. (1988). Interest and agency in institutional theory. In ZuckerL. G. (Ed.), Institutional patterns and organizations: Culture and environment (pp. 3-21). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
17.
DiMaggioP. J.PowellW. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147-161.
18.
DosiG. (1982). Technological paradigms and technological trajectories. Research Policy, 11, 147-162.
19.
DuttonJ. (1993). The making of organizational opportunities: An interpretive pathway to organizational change. In StawB. M.CummingsL. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 15, pp. 195-227). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
20.
EckhardtJ. T.ShaneS. A. (2003). Opportunities and entrepreneurship. Journal of Management, 29, 333-349.
21.
EriksonT. (2001). “The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research”: A few comments and some suggested extensions. Academy of Management Review, 26, 12-13.
22.
FligsteinN. (1997). Social skill and institutional theory. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 397-405.
23.
FreemanC. (1982). The economics of industrial innovation. Cambridge: MIT Press.
24.
GarudR. (1994). Cooperative and competitive behaviors during the process of creative destruction. Research Policy, 23, 385-394.
25.
GatewoodE. J.ShaverK. G.GartnerW. B. (1995). A longitudinal study of cognitive factors influencing start-up behaviors and success at venture creation. Journal of Business Venturing, 10, 371-391.
26.
GortM.KlepperS. (1982). Time paths in the diffusion of product innovations. Economic Journal, 92, 630-653.
27.
HannanM. T.FreemanJ. H. (1989). Organizational ecology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
28.
HardyC. (1994). Underorganized interorganizational domains: The case of refugee systems. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 30, 278-296.
29.
HarrisonJ.FreemanE. (1999). Stakeholder responsibility and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 42, 479-485.
30.
HuberG. P.PowerD. J. (1985). Retrospective reports of strategic-level managers: Guidelines for increasing their accuracy. Strategic Management Journal, 6, 171-180.
31.
JanisI. L. (1982). Groupthink:Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascos. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
32.
KeynesJ. M. (1936). General theory of interest, employment, and money. New York: Macmillan.
33.
KirznerI. M. (1973). Competition and entrepreneurship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
34.
KirznerI. M. (1979). Perception, opportunity, and profit. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
35.
KlepperS.GradyE. (1990). The evolution of new industries and the determinants of market structure. Rand Journal of Economics, 21, 27-44.
36.
KruegerN. F. (2000). The cognitive infrastructure of opportunity emergence. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 24(3), 5-23.
37.
LawrenceT. B.HardyC.PhillipsN. (2002). Institutional effects of interorganizational collaboration: The emergence of proto-institutions. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 281-290.
38.
LounsburyM.GlynnM. A. (2001). Cultural entrepreneurship: Stories, legitimacy, and the acquisition of resources. Strategic Management Journal, 22, 545-564.
39.
MaguireS.HardyC.LawrenceT. B. (2004). Institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields: HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy in Canada. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 657-679.
40.
MarcusA. (2010) Management strategy (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
41.
MarcusA.SutcliffeK.McEvilyS. (1994). The prospects for energy efficiency and renewable energy businesses in Minnesota (Report to the McKnight Foundation). Minneapolis: McKnight Foundation.
42.
McWilliamsA.SiegelD. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26, 117-127.
43.
MontanyeJ. A. (2006). Entrepreneurship. The Independent Review, 10, 547-569.
44.
MunirK. A.PhillipsN. (2005). The birth of the “Kodak Moment”: Institutional entrepreneurship and the adoption of new technologies. Organization Studies, 26, 1665-1687.
45.
NahapietJ.GhoshalS. (1998). Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23, 242-266.
46.
NunnallyJ. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
47.
PalichL. E.BagbyD. R. (1995). Using cognitive theory to explain entrepreneurial risk-taking: Challenging conventional wisdom. Journal of Business Venturing, 10, 425-438.
48.
PetersonR. T.JunM. (2009). Perceptions on social responsibility: The entrepreneurial vision. Business & Society, 48, 385-405.
49.
PfefferJ.SalancikG. R. (1978). The external control of organizations. New York: Harper & Row.
50.
PoracJ. F.ThomasH.Baden-FullerC. (1989). Competitive groups as cognitive communities: The case of Scottish knitwear manufacturers. Journal of Management Studies, 26, 397-416.
51.
PorterM. E. (1980). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York: The Free Press.
52.
PurdyJ. M.GrayB. (2009). Conflicting logics, mechanisms of diffusion, and multilevel dynamics in emerging institutional fields. Academy of Management Journal, 52, 355-380.
53.
RaoH.MorrillC.ZaldM. N. (2000). Power plays: How social movements and collective action create new organizational forms. In StawB. M.SuttonR. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 22, pp. 237-281). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
54.
RegerR. K.HuffA. S. (1993). Strategic groups: A cognitive perspective. Strategic Management Journal, 14, 103-124.
55.
SahaM.DarntonG. (2005). Green companies or green con-panies: Are companies really green, or are they pretending to be?Business & Society Review, 110, 117-152.
56.
SalancikG. R. (1977a). Commitment and the control of organizational behavior and belief. In StawB. M.SalancikG. R. (Eds.), New directions in organizational behavior (pp. 1-54). Malabar, FL: Robert E. Krieger.
57.
SalancikG. R. (1977b). Commitment is too easy!Organizational Dynamics, 6(3), 62-80.
58.
SchumpeterJ. (1934). Capitalism, socialism, and democracy. New York: Harper & Row.
59.
ShaneS.VenkataramanS. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25, 217-236.
60.
ShookC. L.PriemR. L.McGeeJ. E. (2003). Venture creation and the enterprising individual: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 29, 379-399.
61.
SineW. D.LeeB. H. (2009). Tilting at windmills? The environmental movement and the emergence of the U.S. Wind Energy Sector. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54, 123-155.
62.
SmithW.WokutchR.HarringtonK.DennisB. (2001). An examination of the influence of diversity and stakeholder role on corporate social orientation. Business & Society, 40, 266-295.
63.
StawB. M. (1981). The escalation of commitment to a course of action. Academy of Management Review, 6, 577-587.
64.
StawB. M. (1997). The escalation of commitment: An update and appraisal. In ShapiraZ. (Ed.), Organizational decision making (pp. 191-215). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
65.
StawB. M.RossJ. (1987). Behavior in escalation situations: Antecedents, prototypes, and solutions. In StawB. M.CummingsL. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 9, pp. 39-78). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
66.
SuchmanM. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20, 571-610.
67.
TristE. (1983). Referent organizations and the development of interorganizational domains. Human Relations, 36, 269-284.
68.
UllmanA. (1985). Data in search of a theory: A critical examination of the relationships among social performance, social disclosure, and economic performance of U.S. firms. Academy of Management Review, 10, 540-557.
69.
Van de VenA. H.GarudR. (1989). A framework for understanding the emergence of new industries. In RosenbloomR.BurgelmanR. (Eds.), Research on technological innovation, management and policy (Vol. 4, pp. 192-225). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
70.
VogelD. (2005). The market for virtue: The potential and limits of corporate social responsibility. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
71.
WartickS.CochranP. (1985). The evolution of the corporate social performance model. Academy of Management Review, 10, 758-769.
72.
WeickK. E. (1979). The social psychology of organizing (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
73.
WoodD. (1991). Corporate social responsibility revisited. Academy of Management Review, 16, 691-718.
74.
WoodD.JonesE. (1995). Stakeholder mismatching. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 3, 229-267.
75.
ZimmermanM. A.CallawayS. (2001, February). Institutional entrepreneurship and the industry life cycle: The legitimation of new industries. Paper presented at the USASBE–SBIDA Conference, Orlando, FL.
76.
ZimmermanM. A.ZeitzG. J. (2002). Beyond survival: Achieving new venture growth by building legitimacy. Academy of Management Review, 27, 414-431.
