Social Objectivity and Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Abstract

An important conversation in entrepreneurship focuses on the question of whether entrepreneurial opportunities are objective or subjective. The discovery view suggests that they are objective. The creation view suggests they are subjective. Resolving the debate requires first understanding what objectivity is for any social phenomenon. The debate can then be disaggregated into two questions: Are entrepreneurial opportunities ontologically subjective, and can they be epistemologically objective? The answer to both questions is “yes.” Transforming a completely subjective opportunity into an epistemologically objective opportunity requires changing beliefs—of consumers, employees, governments, and other stakeholders—along with the rights and responsibilities of these stakeholders vis-à-vis the entity created to exploit an opportunity. This view of opportunities has important implications for social science research more broadly, as well as management and entrepreneurship, specifically.