The entrepreneurial quest for emancipation : trade-offs, practices, and outcomes in an indigenous context

This paper builds on theoretical developments that view entrepreneurship as emancipation, i.e., entrepreneurial activities as generators of change and pursuit of freedom from perceived constraints. Using a representative data set of 1095 SMEs owned by Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada, the authors investigate how pursuit of this freedom affects (i) the way entrepreneurs enact several aspects of their ventures and (ii) the performance outcomes achieved. Findings reveal how the initial motivations of entrepreneurs (seeking change for the social collective of which they are a part versus seeking autonomy for themselves) lead to distinct business practices, which in turn impact differentially entrepreneurial outcomes.