The Mobility of People, Ideas and Knowledge in the Entrepreneurial Society

As radical innovations facilitate communication, create new industries and make others obsolete, the established ways of organising society are being questioned. Over the last few decades, a theoretical framework and a worldview labelled the entrepreneurial society, has emerged. The entrepreneurial society is based on theoretical models, empirical observations and a belief in the importance of new businesses. The core of the entrepreneurial society is the claim that valuable ideas have to be commercialised in order to contribute to economic growth and prosperity. Unfortunately, valuable ideas remain dormant due to a number of barriers. Labour mobility, informal networks and entrepreneurship are mechanisms with the potential of overcoming these barriers. This thesis aims to increase our understanding of how ideas diffuse between and get applied within organisations. The thesis relates its findings to the entrepreneurial society and identifies and critically assesses basic assumptions and biases underlying