Intrapreneurial behaviors of organizational members. A conceptual view: how contextual expectations can explain the entrepreneurship roles in organizations? Korhan Arun Namik Kemal Universitesi, Tekirdag, Turkey Suat Begeç Türk Hava Kurumu Üniversitesi, Ankara, Turkey, and Olcay Okun Hasan Kalyoncu Universitesi, Gaziantep, Turkey Abstract Purpose – This study aims to develop theoretical arguments about the factors promoting nascent intrapreneurship relative to role theory. These arguments principally draw on contributions from interactional and structural sociology. Fixed theoretical tools for intrapreneurship are not quite enough. So, structural and interactionist perspective of sociology is necessary to understand the intrapreneurship concept because intrapreneurs live in a society and shape their course per the expectations of others. Previous approaches depend on individual, organizations or environment to push potential employees to be intrapreneurs. Expectations may be a keystone for intrapreneurship because intrapreneurs have been trying to explain or make progress about what is seen as crucial; more importantly, they learn their roles. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper about explaining intrapreneurship. Foregoing literature has been trying to explain the phenomenon by individual, organizational or environment endeavors to transform employees to be intrapreneurs. Role theory stems from interactional and structural sociology. Promoting the internal entrepreneur process by overcoming resistance to switching to a more structured management approach and adopting management systems and processes in a timely way is still a vague approach. So, the structural and interactionist perspective of sociology is necessary to understand the concept because intrapreneurship is a contextual factor rather than activity. Findings – Expectations can convey what others consider particularly important or necessary. Intrapreneurship is a type of personal entrepreneur role influenced by expectations. Practical implications – Intrapreneurship is not solely entrepreneurship in organizations but is also governed by the specific combinations of circumstances generally outside of the organizational environment, such as families, coworkers and friends. Originality/value – The present paper seeks to answer three primary research questions: how differentiation among subunits changes intrapreneurship role expectations, how the intrapreneurs’ role has List of abbreviations: None. Declarations: No data and material are used against any conflicting interests. No funding is used. This paper is solely aimed for academic purposes. Roles in organizations Received 13 September 2019 Revised 6 April 2020 5 June 2020 Accepted 7 September 2020 Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship © Emerald Publishing Limited 1471-5201 DOI 10.1108/JRME-09-2019-0074 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1471-5201.htm