From Surgeries to Startups: The Impact of Cultural Holes on Entrepreneurship in the Medical Profession

Abstract

This paper examines how cultural holes that exist at the intersection of institutional fields influence the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. Through an exploration of physician-founded ambulatory surgery centers in the United States, we examine how the presence of cultural holes presented doctors with alternative beliefs, values, and practices to overcome the cultural constraints around entrepreneurship within the medical profession. In doing so, this study extends cultural entrepreneurship research by bringing cultural holes to the forefront, empirically showing how they facilitate entrepreneurial action and proposing other contexts where cultural holes may affect entrepreneurial actions and outcomes.

Citation

Carlos, W.C. and Hiatt, S.R. (2022), "From Surgeries to Startups: The Impact of Cultural Holes on Entrepreneurship in the Medical Profession", Lockwood, C. and Soublière, J.-F. (Ed.) Advances in Cultural Entrepreneurship (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 80), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 137-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20220000080009