Developing a Framework of Entrepreneurial Learning from Failures for Iranian Habitual Entrepreneurs: A Process Approach

Facing failures at different stages of the entrepreneurial activities is a common and predictable matter in the process of experiential learning which is chiefly based on the trial and error method (opportunity creation view). The important matter is the need to learn from these failures and not to repeat them in future. This would pave the way for entrepreneurs’ advancement. Errors and failures which are common practices in the field of entrepreneurship are painful and costly, but at the same time, they are valuable sources of intangible assets, and many scholars believe that they are valuable sources for entrepreneurial learning. However, there is no systematic, holistic and transparent view about the entrepreneurial learning from the backgrounds and /or failures. In this study, we have used narrative and discourse analytical methods to survey the career paths of 10 successful entrepreneurs in order to develop a framework for "entrepreneurial learning from failures". This conceptual framework includes their causes of failures, the consequences of failures, their selected action to confront their failures, and finally the lessons they have learned from experiencing such failures.