Alice Lam [Royal Holloway University of London]: Entrepreneurial Stories, Cultural Brokerage and Creativity in Hybrid Space

Abstract

Alice Lam has been asked to comment on Michael Lounsbury’s talk on cultural entrepreneurship by drawing on her research on identity, hybridity, and creativity. The field of entrepreneurship or cultural entrepreneurship is on the fringe of my area of expertise and so Lam’s talk will focus on some general conceptual issues. She would like to cover three key points: a) the role of personal agency and identity construction in entrepreneurial storytelling; b) entrepreneurs as socially skilled actors in cultural brokerage; and c) creativity in the “third space of hybridity” between local knowledge nodes and global networks (See, Lam 2018 “Boundary-crossing careers and the ‘third space of hybridity’: Career actors as knowledge brokers between creative arts and academia”, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 50(8): 1716-1741.)

About the Speaker

Alice Lam is Professor of Organisation Studies at the School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway University of London. Her research has focused on how societal institutions influence organisational learning and innovation, and the work and careers of creative knowledge workers. Her current work examines career mobility and identity transitions as mechanisms for knowledge transfer across organizational and institutional boundaries. Her research has been published in Human Relations, Organisation Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Research Policy, and Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space.