Getting off the Track to Found. Path-Dependence and Path-Breaking within the Entrepreneurial Process

The concept of path dependence describes mechanisms which can lead organizations to a lock-in on a certain path of development. Sydow et al. (2009) describe four basic self-reinforcing mechanisms (learning effects, adaptive expectations, coordination effects and complementary effects) and argue how they can lead to organizational lock-in along three distinct phases. This study raises the research question of the influence of these mechanisms on the entrepreneurial venture creation process (Berger 2014) and concludes in an argumentation that this process is by no means a determined path. Instead, the forces of path dependence actually lead entities out of the entrepreneurial gestation process in each single step. Therefore, becoming an entrepreneur requires repeated processes of breaking the determined path, which explains another and still unexplored dimension why starting a venture can be so challenging. The study employs research on organizational path dependence and seeks to develop causalities that explain the need for path breaking in terms of venturing.