Serendipity in Entrepreneurship

In: Organization studies: an international multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of organizations, organizing, and the organized in and between societies, Band 30, Heft 7, S. 735-753

Abstract

This paper addresses the concept of serendipity in entrepreneurship, defined as search leading to unintended discovery. It conceptually delineates serendipity, showing how it is related to the entrepreneurship literature on prior knowledge and systematic search. The paper also discusses how serendipitous entrepreneurship relates to some aspects of evolutionary theory, socio-economic institutions, and social psychology. It is suggested that serendipity may be a quite prevalent feature of entrepreneurship and thus has implications for both research and practice.