Organizational Behavior Area Virtual Research Seminar Series: Jo-Ellen Pozner
Jo-Ellen Pozner
Santa Clara University
To Thine Own Craft Be True? Engaging with Paradox in Bean-to-bar Chocolate Entrepreneurship
Date: Friday October 25, 2024
Time: 10:30 AM -12:00 PM
Location: Virtual
All are cordially invited to attend.
Abstract:
We investigate how US bean-to-bar craft chocolate entrepreneurs perceive and engage with craft entrepreneurship’s fundamental paradoxes, the conflicting yet connected concerns that stem from tensions between the craft ethos and entrepreneurial imperatives. Through a qualitative analysis of 79 interviews with founders and executives, three salient paradoxes emerge: identity, industrialization, and intention. We find that most entrepreneurs engage in paradoxical thinking, holding craft ideals and entrepreneurial imperatives in tension. Comparing the degree to which our subjects engage in paradoxical thinking across sets of tensions, we derive three paradox-engagement archetypes. Finally, we find that most craft entrepreneurs design their organizations to act as a guardrail, allowing them to engage with both craft and entrepreneurial logics by forestalling opportunities for external stakeholders to exert market-related pressures. Our findings show that entrepreneurs can successfully engage with craft entrepreneurial paradoxes, building sustainable ventures without abandoning their ideals.
