Beyond individuals - A Process of Routinizing Behaviors Through Entrepreneurial Learning : Insights from Technology-Based Ventures

Abstract: The primary aim of this thesis is to develop a theoretical model that enhances our understanding of entrepreneurial learning as a process by which personalized streams of experience become routinized and embedded in venture-wide behaviors. The aim is realized by exploring entrepreneurial learning as an experiential multilevel process. This process begins with learning at the individual level, which forms the basis for personalized experiences that permeate into the organization, and ends with learning being transposed into the organization via routinizing behaviors.Routinizing behaviors is a necessary step for new ventures to perform activities reliably. Without routinization, new ventures can experience vagueness and confusion, which may challenge their ability to continuously transform ideas into new products, processes, or services. However, there is little understanding of how personalized streams of experience become routinized and embedded in venture- wide behaviors. This is because the focus of entrepreneurial learning research has been predominantly centered on how entrepreneurs learn and develop knowledge, with little understanding of how learning transposes into the venture. This is mainly a reflection of entrepreneurial learning being extensively researched using learning theories from psychology. Moreover, other studies of entrepreneurial learning focus on venture level learning, emphasizing the outcomes of learning manifested by the ability of new ventures to recognize opportunities or achieve growth outcomes. As such, existing research on entrepreneurial learning offers minimal understanding as to how learning at the individual-level interacts and connects with learning at the venture-level. With such a gap, it is difficult to explain how new ventures channel experiences in a way that they become routinized in venture-wide behaviors. Therefore, this research advances a new conceptualization of entrepreneurial learning, one that is dynamic and experiential and functioning on multiple levels.The aim is realized via a longitudinal qualitative research design in technology- based ventures. These types of ventures are challenged by the dynamic environment in which they operate, which demands that they learn and perform activities with high levels of reliability and continuity. Given the vital role that technology-based ventures play in boosting employment and being engines of economic growth, understanding how they learn and develop becomes of critical importance.