Hermeneutic phenomenology and international entrepreneurship research

Issue Title: SPECIAL ISSUE ON QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Guest Editors: Niina Nummela and Catherine Welch It is not uncommon for business researchers to avoid discussion associated with the philosophy of science. In this paper, it is argued that this avoidance weakens the quality and insightfulness of entrepreneurship and international entrepreneurship research, which by definition should be concerned with human action and activity. This paper explores the implications of alternative research philosophies and argues that a dichotomy between objective and subjective meaning is manifestly inadequate for the study of opportunity recognition and exploitation and by implication for many other problems of international entrepreneurship research. In response, hermeneutic phenomenology is proposed as an underutilized, misunderstood, yet highly relevant research paradigm. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]