Content
Prof. Maija Renko (Aalto University, Finland)
- Date: Tuesday, March 24th, 2026
- Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 noon
- Location: Ludwigstr. 28, VG, Room 211b
- Title: The Roles of Entrepreneur Support Organizations in Assisting underestimated Entrepreuners
- Abstract: Despite the large body of research on the work of entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs), we know relatively little about the mechanisms through which they help underestimated entrepreneurs. In this study, I examine urban entrepreneurship support programs in Chicago. These support programs and trainings typically blend ideas from mainstream entrepreneurship education discourse and practices with varying elements of community-relevant content. I adopt an abductive, community-informed perspective that allows for insights from qualitative primary data, collected between 2020 – 2026 using interviews, focus groups and surveys among employees and leaders of ESOs as well as the entrepreneurs they serve. The results show that ESOs act as cultural brokers that enable the entrepreneurs they serve to adapt and follow the norms and conventions of what entrepreneurs are supposed to do. The findings also highlight the role of job-crafting by employees as an essential element in how ESOs are able to support entrepreneurs. In addition, ESOs play an important role as resource brokers—organizations that have ties to businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies rich in resources that are provided to their own stakeholders. Finally, although all ESO employees clearly agreed that creating a financially successful business, capable of creating profit, is the main goal they work towards with the entrepreneurs they serve, there were subtle differences in how male and female employees constructed this financially successful business outcome.
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