Beschreibung
Organizations increasingly rely on intrapreneurial employees to drive innovation and renewal, yet many struggle to retain them, as employees often leave to pursue entrepreneurial careers outside the firm. Existing research explains constraints on intrapreneurial action through struc-tural barriers and transitions into entrepreneurship through career shocks and push–pull dynam-ics, yet offers limited insight into how these processes are subjectively experienced over time and gradually shape decisions to pursue entrepreneurship.To address this gap, we introduce the concept of the Empowerment Gap, defined as the subjec-tively experienced discrepancy between employees’ sustained need for autonomy and mean-ingful influence (agentic impact) and the psychological and structural empowerment they ex-perience within their organizational context. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory and em-powerment research, we examine how empowerment erosion progressively redirects entrepre-neurial agency beyond organizational boundaries.
Based on 22 semi-structured interviews with employees transitioning into self-employment, we identify a four-phase process in which initial empowerment fit enables intrapreneurial engage-ment but gradually erodes, leading to motivational strain, agency decoupling, and eventual exit as a form of re-empowerment.
We contribute by showing that intrapreneurial exit toward self-employment is not primarily driven by discrete shocks or generalized dissatisfaction, but by a process of empowerment ero-sion that progressively transforms organizations from contexts of entrepreneurial agency enact-ment into contexts of entrepreneurial constraint.
| Zeitraum | 19 Juni 2026 |
|---|---|
| Ereignistitel | EURAM 2026: Navigating High Waters |
| Veranstaltungstyp | Konferenz |
| Ort | Kristiansand, NorwegenAuf Karte anzeigen |
| Bekanntheitsgrad | International |