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Social Ontology:
Implications for Entrepreneurship Theory, Research, and Practice

AOM 2014 Professional Development Workshop

Saturday, 2 August 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel

Salon 10

Sharon Alvarez, Denver University 

Jay Barney, University of Utah

Teppo Felin, Oxford University

Dev Jennings, University of Alberta 

Peter Klein, University of Missouri

Russ McBride, University of Utah

William Schulze, University of Utah 

Jana Thiel, ESADE

Randy Westgren, University of Missouri

Robert Wuebker, University of Utah

The social sciences broadly, and the management sciences specifically, explore the realm of human social institutions. Everything that entrepreneurship, organizations, and strategy scholars study - teams, markets, firms, contracts, et cetera - function within, and must be understood in relationship to, this broader context.

A growing collection of work draws from social ontology to re-conceptualize human social institutions and their application to research in entrepreneurship, organizations, and strategy. While the traditional focus of social ontology has been the "mode of existence of social entities such as governments families, cocktail parties, summer vacations, trade unions, baseball games, and passports" (Searle, 2010:161), management scholars have begun to extend these insights to develop theory about the emergence and continued existence of human social institutions - within which markets, opportunities for entrepreneurial profit, work teams, firms, industries, corporations, et cetera are nested.

This workshop offers an introduction to and structured discussion about social ontology with the scholars developing work in this area, and by the editors of the journals that shape, support, and promote its development in entrepreneurship, organizations, and strategy. We will accomplish this objective in three "acts" - a primer on social ontology; presenting exemplary research in entrepreneurship employing insights from social ontology; a dialogue about the implications of entrepreneurship pedagogy infused with social ontology; and a semi-structured question-and-answer session exploring the implications for teaching and practice.

In our first act, we introduce social ontology - its origins, distinctions, applications, and implications for entrepreneurship - in a brief presentation by Russ McBride, a former doctoral student of John Searle, social ontology's progenitor. Following an introduction to social ontology, examples of work drawing from social ontology to explore questions of interest to entrepreneurship scholars will be presented. Finally, in a semi-structured panel discussion format, we will further consider the implications of social ontology to the broader field of management, paying particular attention to its impact on our interpretation of practice and pedagogy.

We have allotted ample time for a Q&A session between panelists and participants, focusing on exploring the contributions that a perspective on entrepreneurship enervated by insights from social ontology can provide, as well as practical application for theory development and empirical work.

We hope to see you there!

Presentation Agenda

Russ McBride, University of Utah

Social Ontology: Overview and Implications

Randy Westgren, University of Missouri

The Social Ontology of Collective Entrepreneurship

Jana Thiel, ESADE Business School

Entrepreneurial Creation and Entrepreneurial Action

Sharon Alvarez, Denver University

Entrepreneurship in Cuba: The Case of the Paladares

William Schulze, University of Utah

Social Ontology and Entrepreneurship Pedagogy

Dev Jennings, University of Alberta

Discussant and Panel Moderator

Distinguished Panelists

Jay Barney, University of Utah

Teppo Felin, Oxford University

Peter Klein, University of Missouri