Collaborative Entrepreneurship and boundary objects: What empirical lessons from two entrepreneurial collectives looking for heterogeneity

In this paper, we start from the collaborative entrepreneurship model and the observation that this theoretical model does not address the question of heterogeneity of actors. Yet, our empirical study of two entrepreneurial collectives shows that heterogeneity is highly valued. Knowing that an efficient management of this heterogeneity fosters innovation, we wonder how these two entrepreneurial collectives overcome the difficulties of collaborating induced by their inspiration to be more heterogeneous. Through a double field ethnography, we show that these collectives use arrangements that facilitate collaboration, namely “boundary objects”. Our work thus contributes to revisiting the Collaborative Entrepreneurship model as well as the notion of “boundary object” in that specific context of these entrepreneurial collectives