Institutional entrepreneurship holds that institutions, as the rules of the game, provide payoff structures affecting the allocation of entrepreneurship to productive, unproductive, or destructive paths. Contrary to institutionalist assumptions, institutional work (IW) literature draws a broader vision of the recursive and dialectical connection between agents and institutions. IW explains how agents’ intent and capability lead to maintaining, altering, or creating institutions and direct entrepreneurial outcomes toward productive paths. The current research adopts an IW perspective to explore how productive entrepreneurship (PE) occurs in poor institutional contexts. Applying an extended case method and conducting semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, we extend the current understanding of the agent-institution interplay in entrepreneurship allocation. Our results depict a more realistic and comprehensive picture of entrepreneurship allocation to productive paths amid institutional constraints. Highlighting the role of actions and motivations, we explore different mechanisms and IW strategies entrepreneurs use to pursue PE within inefficient institutions.

制度企业家精神认为，制度作为游戏规则，提供了影响企业家精神分配到生产性、非生产性或破坏性路径的回报结构。与制度主义假设相反，制度工作（IW）文献对主体与制度之间的递归和辩证联系提出了更广阔的视野。 IW 解释了主体的意图和能力如何导致维持、改变或创建制度，并将创业成果引导至生产路径。当前的研究采用信息论的视角来探讨生产性创业（PE）如何在不良的制度环境中发生。应用扩展案例方法并对企业家进行半结构化访谈，我们扩展了当前对创业分配中代理与机构相互作用的理解。我们的结果描绘了在制度约束下创业精神配置到生产路径的更现实和更全面的情况。我们强调行动和动机的作用，探索企业家在效率低下的机构中追求私募股权的不同机制和信息战策略。