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Intra-Preneurship and Enrolment: Building Networks of Ideas

Cardiff Business School, Cardiff, UK, whittlea{at}cardiff.ac.uk

Frank Mueller

School of Management, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK, frankmueller100{at}yahoo.co.uk

In this paper we draw on and develop an actor-network perspective on organizational entrepreneurship—the study of enterprising behaviour within the firm. Based on the findings of an in-depth study of management consultants in a UK telecommunications firm, we argue that ideas do not flourish because they are inherently more `enterprising' or `innovative' than others, but rather because of the success (or otherwise) of the process of `enrolment'. Our study shows that the consultants were not `intermediaries without discretion', tasked with the diffusion of an already-established template. Rather, they acted as mediators by actively seeking to construct and maintain a network around their idea. By revealing the political tactics and power plays involved in this enrolment process, our study contributes to the actor-network literature by highlighting the link to organizational power and politics. The study also contributes by drawing attention to the subjectivity of network-builders—an issue often left under-explored in actor-network studies. We illuminate the identity processes involved in organizational entrepreneurship, including the link to systems of organizational control. This was fuelled by a mixture of anxiety, insecurity and the desire to be recognized as an `intra-preneur'.

Key Words: Actor Network Theory • enterprise • identity • mediator

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