| The purpose of this qualitative study is to provide insight into the contextual influences and learning processes that yield insight into motivation in the entrepreneur environment. Specifically, the language, metaphors, and images used by the sample population for the study, those on the inside, already committed to entrepreneurship, while describing and defining, in context, workplace motivation and practice in the entrepreneurial environment.; The source of data for this study came from interviews with entrepreneurs, employees of entrepreneurs, MBA students in an entrepreneur program, Executive MBA students and a small case study group from an entrepreneurial organization. The interviewees were asked in their own words to define motivation in the workplace, motivation personally, and then through the use of narratives and stories, to describe experiences that would shed light on how they arrived at those definitions using accepted qualitative methods. A document analysis was conducted on issues related to entrepreneurship, the history of motivational development and theory, and theories that surround paradigm development as interpreted through conversations, language, metaphors and images.; The results of this study not only provide insight into the meaning or definition of motivation in the entrepreneur workplace but on the influences, experiences, and events that helped shape those meanings. In addition, the results suggest new ways of thinking about, defining, and understanding motivation for practitioners, educators, and students of entrepreneurship. Further research should continue to investigate the process needed to advance these findings into methodology for practice. |
