Understanding entrepreneurial learning: a question of how?

The paper aims to stimulate debate among researchers and practitioners on the use of narrative methodology as a constructive means of inquiry in developing the understanding and the practice of entrepreneurship. It argues that narrative interpretation is a valid method in researching the human learning and cultural development of entrepreneurship. Drawing on the author’s fieldwork in researching entrepreneurial learning through life stories, it demonstrates the rich insights which can be gained from discursive life story research. A conceptual model of the significant themes in entrepreneurial learning is proposed for further development and application in education and research. The paper proposes that the “living theory” of entrepreneurship is a cultural, discursive resource which may be discovered and interpreted through the narrative medium.