Edinburgh Napier University

  Acquiring resources, such as knowledge, is a fundamental entrepreneurial task during venture development. However, high levels of uncertainty challenge resource identification and access, hence collaboration and knowledge exchange mechanisms are valuable. During high levels of perceived environmental uncertainty, entrepreneurs and new ventures are required to develop coping strategies to ensure venture formation and growth. Yet, entrepreneurial coping during high uncertainty is an understudied process. The regenerative medicine (RM) sector represents a unique context for studying entrepreneurial activity under high levels of uncertainty. We consider how uncertainty in RM venturing affects entrepreneurial behavior. Informed by long-form, narrative interviews, we propose a process model of RM venturing linking uncertainty, university culture, collaboration and coping. The use of selective revealing in RM venturing, and the effect of different coping responses on resource assembly and collaborative knowledge, is considered. Our findings advance theories of venture development during high uncertainty.