Opportunity at the crossroads, where do we go from here? Evidence and conceptualisation of a non-dichotomous emergent opportunity

Abstract

Intended as a counterargument, this thesis evaluates the premise of several key arguments that have been made against the opportunity construct. As a result, several issues were recognised and distilled into a root problem of the favourability connotation that is commonly associated with an opportunity. This problem was also traced back to the economic perspective on which the opportunity construct was initially defined. To make a distinct contribution that supports the opportunity construct, this thesis departs from the economic perspective and reconceptualises the opportunity construct from a design perspective. To revisit how opportunities manifest, this thesis draws on a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal qualitative data from primary and secondary sources. Overall, there are three important findings. First, this thesis introduces the affordance language, which was found to enable the opportunity construct to overcome its retrospective usage constraints. Second, the thesis offers a definition of opportunities when deemed as emergent design artefacts, and an avenue to operationalize them as such. Third, a micro-level interaction between an entrepreneur’s level of optionality and perceived value was found to underpin the exploratory and exploitative behaviour in the opportunity development process. It is this micro-level interaction that the objective or subjective state of an opportunity may be clarified. Overall, the reconceptualised opportunity construct can anchor the research trajectory of interested participants embodying a design perspective while also offering a foundation for conceptual and empirical work on entrepreneurship concepts outside of opportunities. Furthermore, considering the highly dynamic digital environment in which entrepreneurs operate, scholars and practitioners can benefit from having a new understanding of opportunities as emergent from human–artefact interactions and activities, and not just as dichotomous discovered or created instruments of economic profit.