Keeping it in the Family: Overcoming Institutional Voids - A family-based View of entrepreneurial behaviour

An emergent theme in the field of entrepreneurship research focuses on understanding how institutions, ethnicity and culture affect entrepreneurial behaviour. Despite the many scholarly works in this field, very little is known about the links between family, institutions and entrepreneurial behaviour in the African context. By interviewing 50 entrepreneurs and community leaders of Igbo tribe in Nigeria, we apply induction method via the lens of effectuation theory (Sarasvathy, 2001) as a process by which entrepreneurs manage resources and stakeholders to create opportunities. We examined the attributes of the Igbos in relation to their entrepreneurial behaviour. In doing so, this paper contributes to bridging the gap on prevailing assumptions on entrepreneurial behaviors that are based on Western values and assumptions. Building on research on effectuation, institutional voids theory, business strategy and business history, we thus shed light on an under-researched tribal and family-based behaviour, in an under-theorized setting and institutional uncertainty (African context).