The role of luck in entrepreneurial success

Abstract

Luck is a nuanced concept subject to numerous debates in philosophy and beyond. Philosophers not only acknowledge the existence of luck simpliciter, but also its various types, such as moral and epistemic luck. Moral luck is associated with factors beyond one's control that affect moral judgments and assessments of moral responsibility, while epistemic luck pertains to the influence of uncontrollable elements on knowledge and belief formation. In entrepreneurship research, some studies have proposed luck as an alternative explanation for success. However, these studies often overlook the intricate nuances of the concept of luck. While historical scholarly emphasis has largely centred on theories of entrepreneurial agency, suggesting that successful entrepreneurs possess distinct qualities, consistently maintain control over their actions and thereby shape their own destiny, new theories are beginning to highlight the importance of the external environment in achieving success. Nevertheless, scholars have not extensively explored the role of luck within this external environment, thus missing an opportunity to offer a valuable alternative explanation for entrepreneurial success. Embracing the conceptual nuances of luck can help us rethink entrepreneurial success. The principles of moral and epistemic luck challenge the conventional belief that success results solely from one's actions, intentions, or the quality of one's beliefs or venture ideas. These principles encourage us to re-evaluate the fairness and consistency of judgments regarding moral responsibility, sparking essential debates on attributing such responsibility. The methodology of this dissertation involves a qualitative study of lay people's perspectives, addressing the research question: "What is the role of luck in extreme entrepreneurial success, as perceived by lay people?". This choice is motivated by recent calls to overcome prevalent intellectual biases that dismiss everyday understandings as inferior or unimportant simply because they are ordinary. Instead, it embraces the idea that everyday understandings of entrepreneurial phenomena should form the conceptual foundation of academic understanding, linking theory to the real world. Given the nature of the research question, data was collected from a diverse sample of forty-one UK-based participants with no sophisticated knowledge or experience in entrepreneurship. Data collection encompassed fortyone semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data analysis followed the procedures of reflexive thematic analysis. The findings confirm that luck plays a role in entrepreneurial success, revealing its influence on the four key ingredients that lay people identified as crucial to entrepreneurial success, including privilege, a supporting network, and cognitive and behavioural components. Luck's role in an entrepreneur's privileged position before venturing becomes evident from conversations about uncontrollable structural advantages that emerge and are produced through prior financial resources, individual circumstances, and celebrity status, based on the structures of an unknown optimal time and place of venturing. The role of luck in an entrepreneur's supporting network stems from the belief that entrepreneurs are fortunate to have assistance from other stakeholders, as success is not achieved in isolation. However, the role of luck has been trivialised when it comes to views on luck's influence on the cognitive and behavioural elements of entrepreneurs. While luck has been acknowledged to have a small role in these aspects of success, the process of ideation, prior knowledge, hard work, and perseverance has been cited as key. Bringing these views back to philosophical theories, lay people acknowledge the role of moral luck through conversations about privilege and the influence of stakeholders. However, they simultaneously disregard or trivialise epistemic luck by downplaying the unknowability of the future and subscribing to beliefs that entrepreneurs have cognitive control over their future. These findings underscore the complex and independent nature of lay theories and how nuanced views of luck have entered their conversations before even reaching entrepreneurship theory. This dissertation makes several important contributions. First, it helps us construct a more realistic interpretation of success, realising that the gap between highly successful and ordinary individuals is illusory. Second, it increases the likelihood of individuals acting entrepreneurially by challenging the notion that one must be special to be a highly successful entrepreneur. Third, it prompts entrepreneurs to reconsider the conventional notion that success is solely determined by individual actions by acknowledging the existence of luck as a factor beyond individual control. Taken together, these contributions hold the potential to reshape the prevailing belief that entrepreneurial success is based on possessing extraordinary abilities or innate qualities. By appreciating the role of luck and embracing uncontrollability, individuals can recognise that one is not born to be a successful entrepreneur; rather, success is also influenced by luck, among other elements of the external environment.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Stratos Ramoglou: orcid.org/0000-0001-5134-5525

ORCID for Mina Beigi: orcid.org/0000-0002-4866-7205

ORCID for Laura Costanzo: orcid.org/0000-0002-7197-6778

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