Writing about theory in the graduate lounge is so much less interesting than sitting in on interviews with jamu entrepreneurs, even if I couldn't understand anything that was said.
But since this is where I am, I thought I would share some interesting bits and pieces of what I've been working on since returning from Indonesia, where tempe was invented (and I miss it quite a lot).
Did you know that most research on entrepreneurship is more focused on agency over structure? This larger research project recognizes that and includes Institutional theory in the analysis of jamu entrepreneurs in Jogja. Institutional theory sometimes goes by a different name however.
In my search for relevant papers to use in discussion on theory, I have come across Organizational Behavior which calls institutions context. There is a great discussion on contextualizing entrepreneurship. On top of that I am also reading Parsons who apparently never conducted empirical research in all of his career! Parsons does however, do a great job of defining culture and social action.
So here I am- surrounded by old musty books on a rainy cold day in Canada. Reading and taking notes, and dreaming of the days when all I had to worry about were my field notes and questionnaires, and lunch consisted of tempe, jamu, fresh juice, and instant Kopi.