Space and Entrepreneurs’ Life: Aesthetics in ... - ANZAM

Space and Entrepreneurs’ Life: Aesthetics in Entrepreneurial Process

Stephen Dun-Hou Tsai

Professor, National Sun Yat-Sen University

70 Lien-Hai Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 886-7-5250121 Fax: 886-7-5250122

Sara, Shao-Yi Lin

PhD Candidate, National Sun Yat-Sen University Dept. of Business Management


E-mail: [email protected]

2nd

. E-mail:[email protected]

Tel: 886-918613345

Mansour Amjadi *

PhD Candidate, National Sun Yat-Sen University

Dept. of Business Management


E-mail: [email protected]

2nd

. E-mail:[email protected]

Tel: 886-956131533

* Corresponding Author

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mailto:[email protected]

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Space and Entrepreneurs’ Life: Aesthetics in Entrepreneurial Process

This paper illustrates entrepreneurial process through changing spaces which has been

overlooked in mainstream entrepreneurship research. We discuss two different spaces in this

paper. The physical space refers to building and interior designs while the metaphysic space

refers to the form and style of entrepreneurs’ life. Integrating phenomenological inquiry and

researchers’ observation, we examined how space and life interwove in four cases of Bed &

Breakfast (B&B) in Kenting, Taiwan. Three findings are concluded: First, entrepreneurial

process is initialed by an unfamiliar experience from space. Kenting as an innovative space

triggers entrepreneurs’ imagination to escape from former ill-fitting condition and create

dream houses as solution. Second, B&B entrepreneurs build inimitable spaces as realization

of their unique imagination. Each of the dream houses represents a distinctive image which is

referred to ideal life or personal aesthetic feeling. Third, entrepreneurial process reveals a

transformation of life, illuminating new possibilities of entrepreneurship apart from

economics (profit orientation) and social (resource orientation) explanations. These

entrepreneurs endeavor to make their lives into an oeuvre, an aesthetic practice. In conclusion,

we suggest an aesthetic perspective in entrepreneurship inspired by Foucault’s “aesthetics of

existence”. Following Foucault’s philosophy, entrepreneurial process involves “care of the

self” and represents as a “technology of the self”, which may opens a novel point of view to

entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Process, Phenomenology, Aesthetics

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Introduction

Process has become the focus of entrepreneurial research and a key point to distinguish

entrepreneurial from managerial behaviors (Gartner, 1985, 2008). Some researchers propose

“entrepreneuring” as a substitute term for entrepreneurship, accentuating its creative process

(Steyaert, 2007a). However, what are the forces driving entrepreneurs’ action splitting from

managerial thinking and triggering the desire to create something novel? Related discussions

have been limited under the paradigm of dominating discourse of entrepreneurship. In the

past literature on entrepreneurship, these questions were discussed in economics with

profit-pursuit or risk aversion but failed in differentiating entrepreneurs from managers. Other

explanations attempted to puzzle it in psychology such as trait theory, or behavioral theories

such as motive and need for achievement, but both of them have failed. The former had little

agreements in essential traits (Chell, 1999) and the later lacked deep insights (Bann, 2009).

Past unsatisfactory studies have indicated that direct observations and interpretation of

entrepreneurial behaviors are unable to depict the essence of such driving forces. Therefore,

we need to develop new references for entrepreneurial process as it refuses to be caught in

clear and straight ways.

Steyaert and Katz (2004) argued that the exploration of space was deficient in

entrepreneurship. They suggested a societal rather than economic view on entrepreneurship

for preserving its complexities. Also, Hjorth (2004) drew attention to space in organization for

disclosing creativity in entrepreneurship. In this paper, space is our reference to reveal

entrepreneurial process as it contains social complexities as well as provides authentication.

This paper defines ‘space’ as a place where everyday practices happen. It could be a physical

and/or nonphysical space. The former refers to the B&B buildings, interior designs, and

environment around them, while the later refers to the ideal form and style embodying the

entrepreneurs’ ideal life. We attempt to identify how the space transforms as the

entrepreneurial process changes. With the new reference of transformation of space, the

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driving forces which make entrepreneur entrepreneurial become more obvious.

In addition, this paper attempts to offer a descriptive and interpretive understanding

about entrepreneurial process rather than just apply the existing concepts such as motivation

and opportunity to it. In entrepreneurship research, motive has been regarded as

socio-economic orientation of entrepreneurship and usually relates to need for achievements

(Sagie and Elizur, 1999; Hessels, Galderen and Thurik, 2008), which implies a tendency to

heroism. Discussion about opportunity has been even more popular in dominating discourse

(Smith et al., 2009). Opportunity has been described as an economics condition (Sarasvathy et

al, 2003) or alertness in cognition theory (Kirzner, 1973; Venkataraman, 1997; Ucbasara,

Westhead, and Wright, 2001), which also connotes wealth-pursuit in entrepreneurship. As a

result, both motivation and opportunity reproduce the mainstream economic discourse. Hence

in this paper, we adopted phenomenological inquiry in order to offer descriptive interpretation

and fresh insights concerning entrepreneurial process.

In order to deepen our understanding of entrepreneurial process, we introduce aesthetic

perspective aligned with Hjorth’s (2007) prominent article which advocates understanding of

human nature rather than just the nature of entrepreneurship in studies. Also our findings

reflect with the notion of ‘art of living/aesthetics of existence’ as Foucault’s words:

“What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which

is specialized or which is done by experts who are artists….But couldn’t

everyone’s life become a work of art? Why should the lamp or the house be an

art object, but not our life??” (Foucault, 1984/1991: 350)

The aesthetics of existence ask individual to dedicate him/herself to life and so does

entrepreneurship, by asking an entrepreneur to devote oneself to his/her life. Foucault calls it

‘care of the self’ and relates it to subjectification (Foucault, 1982). Subjectification is in close

relation to how an individual identifies him/herself as a subject and concerns not only about

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the question of who I am but also who I want to be. Hence, subjectification happens in

everyday practice, working as the ‘tekhne’ in Foucault’s words (Foucault, 1982). In the

process of subjectification, individual/subject gets rid of the bounded self and the sense of

freedom coincides with the emancipation nature of entrepreneurship as Rindova et al. (2009)

suggested.

The rest of this article proceeds as follows. First, we provide a review of the literature on

entrepreneurship and discuss the shift from entrepreneurship to entrepreneuring. In the next

two sections, we describe the research site, settings, data collection, methodology, and

analysis. In the following section, we discuss the three findings of this study which emerged

through phenomenological inquiry. Discussion and conclusion will be followed with some

important points which facilitate further research in the field of entrepreneurship.

Literature Review

Shifting from Entrepreneurship to Entrepreneuring

Entrepreneurship as a field of research has received considerable amount of attention

among scholars in recent years. During the past decades, many variations of entrepreneurship

definitions had been introduced. Schumpeter (1934), Krizner (1973), Drucker (1985),

Venkataraman (1997), and many others have offered different kinds of definitions for

entrepreneurship. For example, Drucker (1985) indicates that entrepreneurship is an act of

innovation that involves endowing existing resources with new wealth-producing capacity.

Gartner (1988) offers different definition in which entrepreneurship is the creation of

organizations, the process by which new organizations come into existence. On the other hand,

Shane and Venkataraman (2000) refers to entrepreneurship as “nexus of entrepreneurial

opportunities and enterprising individuals” and define the entrepreneurial process as “the

discovery, evaluation and exploitation” of entrepreneurial opportunities.

Overall, above definitions and alike locate entrepreneurship research at the intersection

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of the study of individuals and teams (entrepreneurs), opportunities (environmental

conditions), and modes of organizing (new business ventures). This framework characterizes

entrepreneurship in terms of three nouns - entrepreneurs, new ventures, and opportunities –

implying entrepreneurship research with focus on entities (Busenitz et al., 2003). However,

some other voices have emerged recently to challenge the focus on entities and looked at

entrepreneurship as a ‘process’ (Steyaert, 2007a; Arikan, 2010). Gartner (1985), as an early

initiator of process theory, developed a framework which differentiates entrepreneurial from

managerial behaviors, describes new venture creation, and integrates four major perspectives

in entrepreneurship: characteristics of the individual(s) who start the venture, the organization

which they create, the environment surrounding the new venture, and the process by which

the new venture is started. Therefore, process had been added in this general model and

changed academic interests to entrepreneur’s behaviors. Following Gartner’s ideas,

Sarasvathy (2001) indicated effectuation, but not causation, as the rationale for entrepreneur’s

behaviors and further illustrated entrepreneurship as a creative process.

Though ‘process’ has attracted attentions in entrepreneurship research, the term ‘process

theory’ has become elusive and ambiguous (Steyaert, 2007a). The process theory in

entrepreneurship has been considered very important and applied in various ways (Smith et

al., 2009). There are scholars who have described entrepreneurial process activities in

sequential and certain stages: entrepreneurial alertness, intentions, opportunity recognition,

opportunity exploitation, business creation, and decisions concerning growth (Bygrave and

Hofer, 1991; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000; Werbel and Danes, 2010). In this paper,

existence of entities and stages in entrepreneurship are not denied, but what and how

entrepreneurs do beyond entities and stages attract us more. In sum, process theory as a

fundamental approach in entrepreneurship presents a perspective that views entrepreneurship

as an individual and unitary one (Hjorth and Johannisson, 2008).

Recently, however, we have noticed tremendous progression in entrepreneurship

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research by using the term ‘entrepreneuring’, instead of entrepreneurship (Steyaert, 2007a).

Entrepreneuring as a verb originally came to the vocabulary of entrepreneurship research by

MacMillan (1986). It was argued earlier that using verbs draw attention to actions and

processes geared toward change creation (Weick, 1979). Entrepreneuring was suggested for

‘doing’ and to widen entrepreneurship research, and emphasize on the action (Weick, 1979;

Steyaert, 2007a). What is really important to highlight here is that now the paradigm is shifted

and entrepreneuring is for paying more attention to ‘change creation’ rather than ‘wealth

creation’ (Rindova et al., 2009). With the term ‘entrepreneuring,’ it may be more

straightforward to shift definition of entrepreneurship to the notion of process.

Steyaert (2007a) offers to use ‘creative process view’ (Sarasvathy, et al. 2003) and

social ontology of becoming as a way to separate the discovery perspective (Shane and

Venkataraman, 2000) and the evolutionary perspective (Aldrich, 2005) which both speak of

processes in an “entitative and equilibrium-based way” (Steyaert, 2007a). By referring to

entrepreneuring as the ‘creative process view’, Steyaert advocates broadening the

multidisciplinary boundaries of entrepreneurship studies and moving it to a new direction

beyond classical economics and mainstream psychology of entitative, as well as the linear

way of looking at entrepreneurship. Here, emerges a new question in entrepreneurship studies:

how do we investigate and better understand ‘entrepreneurs’, using the new lens of ‘creative

process’ or ‘entrepreneuring’ perspective?

A New Image of Entrepreneurs in Process Theory

‘Who is entrepreneur’ and ‘who can be entrepreneur’ are always the attractors in

entrepreneurship studies. Early interests of entrepreneurs focused on psychological trait and

personality characteristics examining the potential differences between entrepreneurs and

non-entrepreneurs (Deamer and Earle, 2004). Psychological approach further extended to

motivation and opportunity (Sagie and Elizur, 1999; Hessels et al., 2008). However, this

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approach still encountered some failures in puzzling ‘entrepreneurs.’ For example, trait theory

was often criticized for lack of coherence in different researches even though it had identified

many traits in entrepreneurs (Chell, 2000). Others, Aldrich and Zimmer (1986) questioned the

importance of motivation in entrepreneurship by social network theory. The failure of

psychological approach brought about the turn of academic interests in entrepreneurs.

Since Gartner (1985) published his eminent article ‘Who is entrepreneur? is a wrong

question’, the research turn from psychological approach to behavioral approach happened in

entrepreneurship. What entrepreneurs did and how they did, created interests in research field,

leading to a new wave of focusing less on entrepreneur him/herself and arising a trend of

de-individualization in process theory (Steyaert, 2007b).

As mentioned earlier, process theory, or entrepreneuring, moves to the center of

entrepreneurship field and have been influential and also provided significant contribution to

entrepreneurship research in recent years. Still, the question of what are the forces driving

entrepreneurs’ action splitting from managerial thinking and triggering the desire to create

something novel have remained unanswered. Is ‘who is entrepreneur’ a really wrong question?

As Carland et al. put it, “Any attempt to isolate what people do from what they are, is an

attempt to separate the dancer from the dance” (1988: 37). Or can we offer a new look of

entrepreneur through the lens of entrepreneuring and make a novel sense of subject and self in

entrepreneurship?

Several researchers proposed their new understanding of ‘entrepreneurs.’ Departing

from heroic individualism, Steyaert (2007b) put the problematic of the entrepreneurs as

subject in the process of becoming inspired by Neitzsche’s idea of ‘becoming.’ “Becoming

dose not aim at a final state, does not follow into final ‘being’” (1968: 708). Hence,

‘entrepreneur’ is not a stable being like a set of psychological traits or even a collection of

behaviors without the doer. The idea of entrepreneur is a becoming process which ‘how one

lives one’s life, creating, creating oneself, continuously, as a floating stream’ (Steyaert, 2007b).

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Weiskopf (2007) advocates entrepreneurial becoming as an ethico-esthetic practice based on

Foucault’s theory. Foucault extracted Greek philosophy of life and point to the idea of

‘aesthetics of life’ or ‘art of living.’ These authors look at the entrepreneurial process as

subjectification which starts from ‘refusing who we are’ and move toward a practice of

freedom and a stylization of existence. As Rindova et al. (2009) highlighted, entrepreneurial

process, or entrepreneuring, consists of emancipation of life in essence.

Both Steyaert and Weiskopf made a new image of entrepreneur under the concept of

‘creative process view’ of entrepreneuring. In this paper, we attempt to offer an alternative

approach, an aesthetic perspective. Rooted in lived experience and everyday life as well as

Foucault’s ‘aesthetics of life’, we advocate aesthetic perspective in other to extend and deepen

our understanding of entrepreneurial process. Lived experience indicates what an individual’s

interpretation of experience is all about. Rather than profiling what and how entrepreneurs do,

we are curious more about how entrepreneurs make sense of their entrepreneurial process

which is to explore their lived experience. Experience contains two important characteristics

of ‘continuity’ and ‘interaction’ (Clandinin and Connely, 2000; Dewey, 1938/1997) and

naturally includes process concept as well. Moreover, inspired by Foucault’s philosophy, we

are more interested in the formation process of lived experience which expresses a style of

life. The style of life connotes an aesthetic meaning and interweaving the whole

entrepreneurial process. In this paper, we try to investigate aesthetic meaning from

entrepreneur’s lived experience and conclude a new understanding of entrepreneur.

Research Field: The B&Bs in Kenting, Taiwan

B&Bs indicate small and self-owned establishment offering only bed and breakfast. This

commercial activity differs from hotel or hostel operations, providing reasonable pricing and

involvement of the hosts who usually lives with the quests. Nevertheless, the B&B industry in

Taiwan, specifically referring to the design B&Bs, develops a unique business model. Design

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B&Bs generally locate in tourism attractions with unique characteristic constructions and high

quality interior designs. These distinctive B&Bs label themselves with different themes such

as rural, aboriginal, or outlandish. With beautiful scenery and dazzling environment, the

design B&Bs can charge higher price ranging from 100 to 200 Eurodollars per night. Though

the price is almost equivalent to some five-star hotels in Taiwan, the design B&Bs still retain

several features of common B&Bs like involvement of the hosts.

Usually design B&Bs forms a cluster around tourism attraction. Take our research field

in Kenting as an example. There are over 400 B&Bs in Kenting. Kenting, in a broad sense

covering the peninsula area in southern Taiwan, is famous for its gorgeous beach and tropical

scenery. Part of this area is designated as national park and reserved from any advance

development. Commercial activities are also limited in specific areas, where cluster only a

few design B&Bs.

Browsing almost 200 websites of design B&Bs, four entrepreneurs were chosen for

their public praise and customers’ feedback on the internet. We interviewed these four B&B

entrepreneurs (B1, B2, B2, and B4) in Kenting area. B1 inherited an old hostel from family.

He quit his former job as an interior designer in urban and moved back to reconstruct the

dilapidated house as a design B&B. B2 retired from journalist and bought friend’s house to

start up his own B&B. B3 was an interior designer and artist, operating B&Bs with several

friends for fun. B4 had worked as a model and TV-actor in metropolitan area, but chosen to

move to Kenting due to his love for surfing. Though all of our informants are male, they

operate the B&Bs with their wives except B3. Three of the four informants (B1, B3, and B4)

are below 40 and B2 is over 60 years old. Table 1 offers more information about the four

informants.

Table 1 about here

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Methodology: Phenomenological Inquiry

The aim of this paper is to explore the forces driving entrepreneurs to start their

entrepreneurship. In order to diverge from existing knowledge and dominating discourse in

entrepreneurship, we adopted phenomenological inquiry as the methodology for descriptive

and interpretive understandings. Phenomenological inquiry is to study lived experience in

context and interpret the meanings of it (Burglund, 2007). It resists studying phenomenon

with presumptions, turning to investigate the sense of ‘discovering’ rather than ‘proving’ it.

The objective of phenomenological inquiry is to discover essence of phenomenon through

reduction work. Therefore, it is a powerful tool to disclose inner experience and obtain

essential insights (Cope, 2005).

In this paper, we selected four design B&B entrepreneurs by purpose sampling. All the

interviews were conducted from August, 2008 to late 2009. Each of them lasted 60 to 90

minutes. Besides the four B&B entrepreneurs, we also interviewed several hotel managers in

Kenting as comparison. The texts of hotel managers were used only as our background

knowledge about tourism industry in Kenting but not shown in this paper. At the start of the

interviews, we tried to ask broad questions allowing our informants to talk freely in the

beginning, for example: “Could you share with us how you start your B&B?” Following

informants’ words, we asked more detail questions when they mentioned about their

experiences related to our topic. In addition, we performed two observations of the four

design B&Bs during the summer of 2009.

All the interviews were recorded and typed. Detail scripts were created for further

analysis based on Berglund’s hermeneutic phenomenology approach (Berglund, 2007). First,

we organized a team composed of the authors of this paper, an MBA student, and met once

per week. The team had worked on reading and re-reading the scripts in order to divide them

into ‘meaning units’. A meaning unit, as Berglund suggested, was partitioned according to

“visible changes in meaning”. Each meaning unit could be extracted as a descriptive concept,

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such as “gap between expectation and former work experience” and “feeling relax in

Kenting”. Next step was to group the related descriptive concepts into categories. This

followed by putting categories into factors, and the final stage was to create super-factors. The

team worked for several months as we inducted three super-factors which are the essence of

phenomenological inquiry. As a result, three essences of entrepreneurial process are

concluded. These are presented below as our findings.

Findings

1) Entrepreneurial Process is Initiated by Unfamiliar Experience

When the B&B entrepreneurs talked about their past work experiences, they all

mentioned about similar agonizing time, their difficulties, and how they were surrounded by

an increasingly complex environment in big crowded metropolitan cities. The B&B

entrepreneurs described how they felt living in a ‘cold’, as they narrated, a detached life

milieu. The excruciating busy life-style of living in a metropolitan city like Taipei was openly

mentioned by two informants. For example, B1 and B4 who had lived in Taipei for quite

some time express their experiences this way:

“The cause is work. Working in Taipei is toilsome……I had to work over ten

hours every day. I had no time for my family. My life seemed full of work but short

of fun.”(B1)

“I was a model and an actor in my last job. That was a life…dominated by

dealing with agents or producers. You were controlled by others. But now I

control myself.”(B4)

Perhaps an important impetus for entrepreneurship may well be the ill-fitting of past

experiences (Bann, 2009). Several researchers discuss past difficulties and unpleasant

experiences as the important triggering points for entrepreneurship (Bann, 2009). But we can

additionally ask what other triggering points could potentially contribute to the initiation of

the B&B invaluable enterprising spirit? Can ill-fitting, stress, and unpleasant past experiences

be the primary factors or are there other important elements evolved in the B&Bs lives? What

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did the informants experienced in Kenting which ignited the desire to pursue their B&B

enterprising? These are rightful questions which are not only related to the past distasteful

experiences of the informants, but also experiencing something unique and exceptional in the

space of Kenting.

It became evident that the informants talked about their Kenting experiences in a very

emotional and touching, artistic, and exquisite way. The gorgeous environment of Kenting,

the beautiful and stunning scenery of the beaches along the coast, and the fresh air created a

relaxed atmosphere for them. They talked about Kenting as a place where they felt

rejuvenated and re-energized. For example, the fine weather, clean air and the clear blue sky

of Kenting are attractive features mentioned enormously by the informants. They were

impressed by the beauty of Kenting and expressed their feelings this way:

“I like Kenting’s…weather……I don’t know…it is comfortable to see the

environment. Yes, the environment.”(B3)

“Watching this sky just makes me…cheerful and bright.”(B4)

“In the beginning, my friends and I just wanted to have a space for ourselves.

That is …a space allowing us to relax. We used to go to Kenting frequently at first,

had drinks…thus it is like…like that we can relieve the pressure and tension from

work place. It is very comfortable…had some food, then back to work again, or

had coffee on the beach, very easy and simple.” (B3)

The enjoyable climate and environment of Kenting made the informants at ease and relax.

It offered them something beyond pervious experiences, something different and unlike the

routine of daily activities in the cities. Kenting was a get away place for clearing the mind and

pause, even for a short moment of what they used to do everyday in the busy city

environment. It presented a place allowing them to escape from intense life pressure.

Another important feature expressed by the informants was the change in people’s

behaviors while coming to Kenting and staying at their B&Bs. The informants talked about

their close lively interactions with local people and their guests, and also highlighted intimacy

and closeness among guests at their B&Bs. They cherished the close interactions, socializing

and talking about many aspects of life without any hesitations among people in the B&B

environment. They talked about how guests open up to each other and interact in a very

relaxed way with pleasure. The environment created a sense of boundary-less among people

which was both enjoyable and unique unlike the past experiences.

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“It is hard to make new friends in Taipei due to distant relationship. I find out

that it is common in big cities. Nevertheless, in such tourism attraction, there is

no more distance between people. I prefer this kind of interaction, sincere one…I

mean there is no bitterness against each other here.”(B4)

“The pace is slow here. I retired from mass media, and it was a fast-moving and

high-pressure life style. I faced time pressure every day, the pressure of deadlines.

It was too much pressure for me. Here the pace is slow, relatively slow.”(B2)

Above excerpts from the B&B entrepreneurs underline the point that Kenting as an

innovative space offers them a novel experience. The life style, the unique interactions among

people, and the entire surroundings are all unfamiliar and strange comparing to former

experiences. These inspire them and trigger entrepreneurial process for the informants. Take

the informant B3 as example, who was an interior designer and started up a B&B with his

artist friends:

“I went to Kenting frequently due to my work, and I became attached to and

passionate about this place at that time. Since my passion was initiated, I was

wondering if I should own a private space here. At the beginning, I didn’t intend

to operate a B&B, just wanted to have comfortable and relax space for myself.

Then again …Kenting is perfect, with blue sky and tropical atmosphere, the

climate and environment allow people relax.”(B3)

In the case of the B&B entrepreneurs, experiencing something different and unfamiliar in

Kenting initiated their entrepreneurial process. The B&B entrepreneurs experienced

something novel and extraordinary which was different from past experiences. Facing the

unexpected and unfamiliar experience generated unique sense of anxiousness and curiosity in

them. The unfamiliar experience was a different way in life, a different and unusual path

unlike the past which was fixed and pre-given. The past was known, tested and the outcome

was too familiar. There was nothing especial in it. But on the other hand, the unfamiliar

experience in Kenting was unusual. It is that unusualness in the experience which produced

some excitements. Experiencing something unfamiliar related to an innovative landscape

space like Kenting was a catalyst for the entrepreneurial process which offered a different

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sense for the informants and inspired their passion to dream. The B&B informants noticed

possibilities for a new life, so they were willing to pursue an entrepreneurial process and

become B&B entrepreneurs.

2) Space Represents an Image of Ideal Life and Personal Aesthetic Feeling

The B&B entrepreneurs designed and constructed the B&Bs in such a way which

resembled their ideal life style. The B&Bs are all beautifully built and decorated meticulously

to reflect the B&B entrepreneurs dream homes and the ultimate desirable way of life. It was

clearly noticeable as the B&B entrepreneurs described their previous life style that satisfying

the shortcomings of past contributed to this particular style of B&B building constructions

and interior designs significantly. It seems that their B&Bs somehow reflect and provide

potential solutions to the former life which was not satisfying. For example, informant B2

who is an ambitious retired journalist, bought an old house from a friend, renovated the

building extensively and started his own B&B. As a family man, he realized early on that it

was almost impossible to keep his children with him under one roof by the time when he is

retired. He accepted the fact that his children will someday move away and go on to start their

own families as they grow up. Therefore, as a family man and his love for children, he

intentionally designed his B&B distinctively as an open space without any partitions in the

main hall, in order to let guests, especially children, run and play freely in the house. His

B&B has a warm and welcoming exceptional reception area treating guests as one big family.

He prefers to refer to his B&B more as a ‘home’ than anything else, a home where he can

continue living as a family with his guests and their children:

“How I run my B&B is that, I never treat you as a customer since you stepped in

my house. You know what I am saying? I treat you as my friend, part of my

family.”(B2)

“Our breakfast is not pre-made. We cook food as guests order their dishes. That

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is why we are bustling (in the morning)…… Cold food is distasteful. Our guests

always praise us with their sweet words and compliments because they feel

comfortable here just like their own homes. We enjoy providing this kind of cozy

home style for our guests.”(B2)

It is important to accentuate that profit is not the prime objective for the design B&B

entrepreneurs. The life style and the way B&B entrepreneurs treat their guests indicate that

running their business is totally in contrast with the conventional B&Bs or typical

commercial hotels. These design B&Bs are all constructed for the ideal living style rather

than moneymaking business. For example, B2 distinguished his operations in a particular

way when he discussed about his design B&B. He considers it more as a home, a convenient

place to live and relax, enjoy life, than a business for generating profit. He elaborated in more

details about his unique B&B operations and mentioned that being profitable is not the sole

objective of having the B&B. He didn’t open his B&B for the exclusive purpose of making

money, get rich quickly, expand and open other B&Bs or hotels rapidly. His prime intention

was to have an enjoyable place for himself and others who come there to stay for a while.

“We can still live in this house if our B&B business was not successful. In this

way, we don’t feel any pressure, no pressure at all. I don’t know how other hosts

run their B&Bs. Maybe it is because that we don’t have any mortgage or debt on

our B&B. All the funding comes from us. For this reason, we run B&B without

any financial pressure. We don’t mind whether it is profitable or not.”(B2)

The B&B entrepreneurs have shown their personal sensibilities in various ways. For

example the color of the buildings echo the love and caring the B&B entrepreneurs have for

Kenting. To represent their personal aesthetic feeling for Kenting, the B&B entrepreneurs try

to match their B&Bs with the beautiful scenery of Kenting. In other words, these B&B

entrepreneurs attempt to harmonize their B&Bs with the environment. This was a way to

signify their personal artistic sentiment for Kenting as a place. Take B4 for example who was

a model and TV actor in the past and moved to Kenting for the beauty of the place and love

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of surfing in the ocean. He considers his B&B as an artwork which should be matched with

the coastline and the landscapes surrounding Kenting. He is adamant about making sure his

B&B is delicately fit-in with the area. He believes his B&B shouldn’t be an awkward looking

building in an attractive place like Kenting. He has taken every effort to find innovative ways

to complement the place. In his own way, he illustrates his feelings and love for Kenting this

way:

“I feel white building matches this environment best. Yeah, I think the natural

environment is extremely wonderful, so the color of building is unnecessary to

compete with the nature. I wish my house harmonizes with the nature.”(B4)

B3 entrepreneur who was an interior designer in the past shows his attachment and deep

feeling with regard to color for his B&B in a distinctive way. Contrary to B4, he prefers

strong colors such as red, yellow, green and blue to represent his aesthetic feeling for

Kenting, expressing his perception for the tropical scenery and the surrounding

environments. He believes stronger colors provide better match for Kenting, an exotic place

with some special “Austronesia” characteristics:

“We thought of the environment when designing, and tried to harmonize (our

B&B) within it. For example, it is a tropical area with some characteristics of

Austronesia. So we look for some elements such as tropical plants to represent the

atmosphere of Austronesia.”(B3)

“So, we adopted rough style (of interior design). The only requirement now is to

match the natural feeling and plus a few fun artistry.”(B3)

B3 entrepreneur’s design B&B reinforces the point that not only his B&B represents his

ideal life and the missing pieces of the past, but also shows his personal sensibilities for the

place. Interestingly, he also considers his building as an artwork and creation of something

artistic which complements the nature and environment of Kenting. Similar to a painter who

admires the beauty of nature and as a result creates a masterpiece, he likes to supplement the

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nature with his personal touch, his intimate feeling for Kenting. B3 entrepreneur reminds us

about his B&B as an artwork rather than a business place this way:

“If you calculate it in moneymaking, our business model which the main purpose

is to have fun is not economic at all. But for us, if we take it as a piece of artwork,

it’s really fun and then our guests also enjoy and feel good. So, it depends on

what you want.”(B3)

By constructing the design B&Bs in such a unique manner, the B&B entrepreneurs

attempted to fulfill the inadequacy of the past, adjusting and improving the quality of current

life style, and bringing their future dreams and desire to present. The B&B entrepreneurs

materialized and embodied their dreams, and reveal their dream life in marvelously design

B&B constructions instead of just dreaming a dream. These B&B buildings demonstrate the

B&B entrepreneurs’ pursuit of ideal life and personal aesthetic feeling. The detail design,

exclusivity in construction of the buildings, and the particular colors to match with the

environment were not pre-planned and premeditated in advance, but emerged from living in

Kenting. The context of Kenting as an innovative place triggered the B&B entrepreneurs to

create their masterpieces.

3) Transforming Life & Inspiring Inner Gratification

Pursuant to the first and second findings, it is apparent that the entrepreneurial process

for the B&B entrepreneurs initiated in pursuit of better life. As highlighted earlier, chasing a

better life was not directly related to only economic values and accumulation of wealth. The

experience of living in Kenting environment prompted the B&B entrepreneurs’ awareness.

They became more conscious of various unexplored possibilities which emerged

spontaneously. These B&B entrepreneurs materialized their dreams for a pleasing lifestyle in

Kenting which at the same time transformed their lives. The transformation of life and

inspiring inner gratification in their entrepreneurial process can be seen in different ways. For

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example, informant B1 who complained about his difficult work style in Taipei and lack of

leisure time, believed that his B&B business allowed him to develop his personal interests,

especially in off-season when his business is slow. He talked about being able to do what he

enjoys a lot and incapable of doing in the past - painting, taking classes locally to improve his

artistic painting abilities, and also reflecting his art to his B&B business:

“In Kenting, I have more time to do what I really want to do. I love painting.

I paint 2 or 3 days a week…...A college nearby had canvas course, so I took the

class.”(B1)

The transformation of life and inspiring inner gratification can also be observed

differently in other aspects of the B&B entrepreneurs lives. For example, informant B4

brought up an interesting point about his personal life-changing since he had decided to open

his design B&B. He considered himself more mature and responsible now, as compared to his

past. He discussed how becoming a B&B owner shaped his life and made him more grown-up

as a man:

“My biggest difference is the cultivation of responsibility. I was a kid before

constructing this B&B. I think it is like parenting. You won’t become mature

unless you are someone’s parent. It is because if you were not in parenting

condition—you won’t be responsible without that condition. You build up a house,

involving in the birth of this house, and then you feel responsible. I find my

biggest transformation as growing from a boy to a man. Right, because I feel

responsible. I have to…I have to protect this place.”(B4)

The notion of transformation of life and inspiring inner gratification is also evident when

another B&B entrepreneur described how he thought his new way of life resembles the

prominent artist, Paul Gauguin’s life. He discussed at length about similarities between his

life and Gauguin’s. He talked about his feeling of being free and librated in Kenting. This

B&B entrepreneur found himself emancipated in Kenting, the same way Gauguin felt

emancipated in Tahiti:

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“Painting enables me to know Gauguin’s life. Have you heard of Gauguin?

He was a famous artist. He lived in Tahiti! He left civilized society and plunged

into the wild for his art. Tahiti Island and our Kenting here are similar in their

grounds, colors, and primitiveness……Gauguin felt free there…He took time off

and walked into the wild……(It is like) what you see here, girls who wear a lot in

the city, but undress in Kenting. In Kenting you feel emancipated.” (B3)

The B&B entrepreneurs felt emancipated in Kenting. The feeling of emancipation and

transforming life allowed them to inspire their inner gratification and attempt to do things

which they could not consider doing in their past. These B&B entrepreneurs were searching

for ways out of the routine and unpleasant life in big cities. They were unhappy about the way

they lived and looking for change. They had a vision for better life, but that vision was not

carefully planned in advance. They believed that their Kenting life experience helped them

unleash some of the recurring restrictions and limitations they encountered previously. That is

the essence of their entrepreneurship process. These B&B entrepreneurs were looking for

change creation and libration from constraints as argued by Rindova et al. (2009), rather than

solely for wealth creation. To the B&B entrepreneurs, accumulation of wealth, resources, and

financial achievements are not the only explanations for entrepreneurship, but the process of

changing the self, or in Foucault’s (1982) expression “the care of the self” unveil new

possibilities for entrepreneurship. Thus, their entrepreneurial process is unique, derived from

emancipation, transforming life, and inspiring inner gratification, unlike what has been

described in mainstream entrepreneurship research.

Discussion and Conclusion

Research on Kenting B&B entrepreneurship manifests an orientation of life and

entrepreneurs becoming-self. It departs from the abstract and conventional concepts like

opportunity or motive, and shift to a descriptive and interpretive understanding experience in

entrepreneurial process. As a result, a specific experience with image of ideal life is created,

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revealing a new encounter of everyday life. This paper moves away from ‘a managerial form

of entrepreneurship’ (Hjorth, 2004) serving conventional organization theory and economic

discourse, and locates entrepreneurship in everyday life consisting entrepreneur him/herself

and others. Thus, entrepreneurship blossoms into a process - how an entrepreneur ‘cares of

the self’ in Foucault’s words. ‘Care of the self’ coexists with a subject’s entire life, concerning

the relation of self to self. It asks subject to devote him/herself to him/herself (Foucault, 1982:

247-248). ‘Care of the self’ differs from ‘need of achievement’; rather, it concerns more about

subjectification, a formation of who I am as well as who I want to be as Foucault’s words

(Foucault, 1982). In our Kenting research, the B&B entrepreneurs introduce this

subjectification into their entrepreneurial process and finally project their ideal type in space.

Thus, entrepreneurship, rather than dedicating to a business as organization theory and

economics claim, becomes a unique process of subjectification, concerning what and how an

entrepreneur create a new form of life. Therefore, from early on, we have moved

entrepreneurship away from common understandings and turned it into a creative process.

In this research, entrepreneurship in Kenting B&Bs is realized as an experienced process,

reflecting how an entrepreneur perceived an unfamiliar feeling and recognized it as a new

possibility in his/her life. This creative process is unique and singular from one B&B

entrepreneur to another, as we can find different B&B styles in our four cases. Here,

entrepreneurship as a creative process unrolls an aesthetic understanding, or ‘art of

living/aesthetics of existence’ in Foucault’s words. Foucault advocates an ‘art of

living/aesthetics of existence’ inspired from Greek philosophy. It referred to a practice of

‘making one’s life a work—a beautiful and good work’ (Foucault, 1982: 424). It occurs in

physical elements such as B&B’s construction and interior design but also in efforts to change

entrepreneurs’ life. Thus, entrepreneurship in B&B cases is closer to a practice of ‘making

one’s life a work.’ Rather than developing an innovative technology or business model, B&B

entrepreneurs more intend to create a singular style consists of the personal experience of the

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world like ‘harmonizing the environment’ or ‘family reception.’ Unique style becomes the

feature and specific mark of each B&Bs, which is the biggest attraction to customers. People

not only enjoy comfortable rooms and careful services, but also experience a new form of

lifestyle. This is the real attraction in Kenting design B&Bs.

Based on the concept of entrepreneuring as creative process view, we find that it is not

only the business which was drawn into entrepreneurial process, but also the space, services

and even entrepreneur him/herself. Space projected entrepreneurs’ ideal life and his/herself

was changed in the process. As a result, the space, services, and entrepreneur him/herself

integrated together and format a whole style, an aesthetic of life. The unique style appears

everywhere and become a specific mark of his/her life and entrepreneurship. Aesthetics as

entrepreneuring not only manifests a becoming-self or subjectification, but it more represents

a fusion of everyday life. Life, eventually becomes the core of entrepreneurship.

In the lens of aesthetics, entrepreneurship involves personal perception and lived

experience. It changes our focus from process of starting an organization to the process of

subjectification. Therefore in this research, we conclude that our finding 1 and 3 refer to

becoming-self, while finding 2 reveals the style of life. In the understanding of

entrepreneurship as creative process, this paper demonstrates a more clear idea to realize

entrepreneuring as an ‘art of living’ or ‘aesthetics of existence’ in Foucauldian understanding.

Aesthetics of entrepreneurship is a process of stylization and it influences the entire lived

experience. As a result, space, types and models of services, and entrepreneur self are all part

of aesthetic style. Through the observation of space and aesthetic, the ingredients in

entrepreneurial process especially the ‘self’ and ‘style’ become much more evident and

recognizable. We believe that ‘aesthetics of existence’ can enrich and deepen the

understanding on entrepreneurial process, especially for the process which involves

emancipation. Moreover, aesthetics as a perspective may emancipate the existing boundaries

of entrepreneurship research. We hope this study by using aesthetic perspective provides some

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intriguing points for pursuing a wide array of new research questions for further research in

the field of entrepreneurship.

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Table 1: The B&B Entrepreneurs

Informants

Backgrounds B1 B2 B3 B4

Gender Male Male Male Male

Age 35-40 Over 60 35-40 35-40

Previous Job

Experience

Interior

designer

(quit)

Journalist

(retired)

Interior

designer

(reconciliation)

Model,

TV-actor

(quit)

B&Bs

Construction

Inherited an old

hostel and

reconstructed it

Bought an idle

house from a

friend and

reconstructed it

Designed and

constructed a

new B&B

Designed and

constructed a

new B&B

Partner Wife Wife Friends Wife

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