Exiting intrapreneurship: An investigation of subjective career trajectories

Although a critical matter in terms of visibility and promotion of intrapreneurship within the firm, what happens at the individual level at the end of an intrapreneurial process has received so far little attention in the literature. Based on forty-one semi-directive interviews of intrapreneurs from eight large French companies, this article focuses on the subjective career trajectories of intrapreneurs. This research identifies six main subjective career trajectories envisaged by intrapreneurs, which relate to (1) individual trajectory compared to project trajectory (whether the employee continues working on the intrapreneurial project afterwards or not) and (2) structural contexts (whether the employee stays within the organisation, leaves it completely, or a midway point between the two). This research provides preliminary findings on the issue of internal mobility of intrapreneurs and on the management of career trajectories within large French private companies.
JEL Code: O31