Pivoting or persevering with venture ideas: Recalibrating temporal commitments

We examine how entrepreneurs rework the temporal commitments implicated in their venture ideas when they persevere or pivot upon confronting unexpected events. To gain a deeper understanding of how entrepreneurs recalibrate temporal positioning, length, and ordering of actions and milestones, we systematically analyzed 22 episodes across five ventures when entrepreneurs had to decide whether to persevere or to pivot. To persevere, entrepreneurs positioned their actions as a continuation of the past, while increasing the temporal length and complexity of temporal ordering, thereby avoiding disruptive changes to their relational commitments. In contrast, entrepreneurs repositioned their actions on a revised timeline in order to pivot. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of our findings for theory on entrepreneurial action.