Author:

Keywords:

entrepreneurship, resourcefulness

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the concept of entrepreneurial resourcefulness as a cognitive resource of an entrepreneurial family business leader. Entrepreneurial resourcefulness is defined as the situational awareness of opportunities and threats in the environment and a capability to regulate and direct behavior to successfully deal with the task of creating and managing an organization. Contradictory to previous studies our focus lies on the mindset of the entrepreneurial individual. We propose that metacognitive abilities, personal beliefs and experiential development of entrepreneurial resourcefulness may depict the most valuable individual assets which can transcend to creating and sustaining viable family ventures. In this, we acknowledge that entrepreneurial resourcefulness is developed in the intersubjective relationship of a family business entrepreneur with his/her environment through enactment of personal meaning and purpose. Our paper is likely to contribute to delivering practical and managerial relevant knowledge on the practices that contribute to entrepreneurial resourcefulness, and to offering a route to understand and promote individual potential for entrepreneurial thinking and action in family businesses.