Case Study Design and Participant Background

While many theoretical foundations have been presented in the early chapters of this book, we have consciously chosen for an individual level of analysis by studying the experiences of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial executives. This is the basis of our case study design. We concentrated on individual backgrounds by looking closely at their personal experiences, delving into what makes these people who they are. The questionnaire was specifically designed to probe their histories, and to inspire a diversity of stories to surface during the interviews. Our questions ranged from asking about their motivations, experiences, setbacks, behaviors to strategies concerning their involvement with entrepreneurship. The case studies seek to represent the spirit of various aspects of entrepreneurship. In the first section of this chapter we present information about the research sample and sources of information we used. We continue with the research model which formed the basis of our research, and detailed information concerning concepts in the model is also presented.