Measuring entrepreneurship over time

This article is a review of three measurement issues that impact the study of entrepreneurship over time: (1) level of analysis difference between firms and individuals, (2) differences between rate and stock measures, and (3) the effects of choosing particular time frames on subsequent analytical results. Based on theory that views entrepreneurship as depending on ownership rights (Hawley 1907), this article develops a longitudinal measure of entrepreneurship in the United States—the number of organizations per capita. The problems and advantages of using a measure based on organizations per capita as an indicator of entrepreneurship is examined.Understanding how and what is being measured in studies of changes in entrepreneurship over time is an important issue for academic researchers and public policy makers. Measurement of changes in entrepreneurship over time can shed light on important research questions and public policy issues about entrepreneurship. For example, is entrepreneurship increasing in the United States? If entrepreneurship is increasing, is this trend comparable to any previous time periods, or is the current increase in entrepreneurship a new or unique social phenomenon? What influences changes in entrepreneurship over time?The choice of certain measures of entrepreneurship is likely to influence the answers to these questions. For example, the measures used in an entrepreneurship study are an implicit specification of one's views of entrepreneurship (e.g., entrepreneurship as self-employment or firm creation), and few measures of entrepreneurship reflect critical changes in important environmental influences (e.g., technological change) because of short measurement time frames. Therefore, determining the contribution of entrepreneurship to the well-being of an economy is dependent on understanding what measures of entrepreneurship are utilized for making these evaluations and the time frame used for these measures.We review three measurement issues that impact the study of entrepreneurship over time: (1) level of analysis differences between firms and individuals, (2) differences between rate and stock measures, and (3) the effects of choosing particular time frames on subsequent analytical results. Based on theory that views entrepreneurship as depending on ownership rights (Hawley 1907) this article develops a longitudinal measure of entrepreneurship in the United States—the number of organizations per capita.Studies of entrepreneurship focus on either individual level activity (e.g., self-employment) or on firm level activity (e.g., new incorporations). Self-employment research focuses on individuals who employ themselves; that is, individuals who report wages, but not wages paid to them by other individuals or organizations. In most studies of the self-employed, firm founders would, therefore, be classified as wage earners and not as entrepreneurs. New firm research focuses on the rate of new firm entrants, typically measured as new incorporations, so such businesses as proprietorships or partnerships will not be counted.A rate is a change from one state to another (e.g., the number of people who become self-employed for a specific year, or the number of new firms created for a specific year), whereas a stock specifies a particular level (e.g., much like a stock of inventory), such as the number of self-employed, or a particular number of firms, for a specific time period. It is important to recognize that entry into business does not necessarily guarantee remaining in business. For example, although the number of people who become self-employed may increase for a specific year, the number of people who remain self-employed may actually decrease if more of the self-employed fail to remain in business than those that enter. The stock of the self-employed can decrease if the outflow of self-employed is greater than the inflow. For those persons interested in whether entrepreneurial activity results in wealth creation (either individually or societally), the realization that entry into business may not lead to a sustainable business (and therefore no creation of wealth) should be a signal that measuring rates of business formation and rates of self-employment may not be appropriate for this type of research.The factors that drive changes in the rate of entrepreneurship are not likely to be manifest over short timeperiods. Changes in values, attitudes, technology, government regulations, and world economic and social changes have a significant influence on changes in entrepreneurship over time. Studies that have measured entrepreneurship over recent time periods are, therefore, likely to miss the influence of these variables.We introduce a measure of entrepreneurship (organizations per capita) based on a theory of entrepreneurship as ownership. This measure shows the stock of organizations in the U.S. economy over time (from 1857 to 1992). The problems and advantages of using a measure based on organizations per capita as an indicator of entrepreneurship is examined. We conclude with some suggestions for improving entrepreneurship research by recognizing the limitations of particular longitudinal entrepreneurship measures and by challenging the field to seek convergent validity among measures.     

Language ability and entrepreneurship education: Necessary skills for Europe’s start-ups?

Language ability and entrepreneurial education are seen as essential resources for start-ups operating in intensified landscapes of internationalisation and globalisation. Deemed as the necessary skills for corporate effectiveness vis-à-vis rivals, this paper responds to calls for increased understandings of cultural components as vital to entrepreneurship and the product of institutional forces. Thus, it explores (a) the impact language ability has on start-up expansion; (b) the perceptions of international relations as based on language ability as a tool for cross-cultural communication; and (c) the role of educational context from the entrepreneurs’ perspective. Based on interviews from European online start-ups across three discrete contexts—Finland, Portugal and Sweden—it concludes that contextual trends regarding language and education are founded upon the cultural-cognitive and normative pillars of institutionalisation. Further, by combining actor-context perspectives, it poses that language ability and education are resources borne from the domestic environment which positively moderate the start-up’s international success. Nevertheless, the notion of learnt entrepreneurship remains contested. Taken together, this study contributes by offering deeper insight into the role of context on entrepreneurial tendencies by combining resource and institutional perspectives.     

Examining Entrepreneurial Cognition: An Occupational Analysis of Balanced Linear and Nonlinear Thinking and Entrepreneurship Success

This empirical study advances entrepreneurial cognition research by examining whether entrepreneurs possess a high nonlinear (e.g., intuitive, creative, emotional) thinking style, as some studies and a common stereotype of entrepreneurs would suggest, or whether they possess a more versatile balance in both nonlinear and linear (e.g., analytic, rational, logical) thinking styles. As predicted, 39 entrepreneurs demonstrated greater balance in linear and nonlinear thinking styles than their professional actor (n = 33), accountant (n = 31), and frontline manager (n = 77) counterparts, though they did not significantly differ in thinking style balance from senior executives (n = 39). Unexpectedly, educational background was associated with thinking style balance, suggesting that years of formal education may contribute to one's versatility in utilizing both linear and nonlinear thinking styles. For the entrepreneur sample, linear and nonlinear thinking styles balance predicted years in current business after controlling for industry, number of employees, and demographic variables. Implications for future entrepreneurial cognition research and entrepreneurship education are discussed.     

Academics’ start-up intentions and knowledge filters: an individual perspective of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship

Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurial activity tends to be greater in contexts where investment in new knowledge is relatively high (e.g., entrepreneurial universities). However, in this specific knowledge context, only a few academics recognize opportunities and act on them through entrepreneurial activities (e.g., spin-offs). A plausible explanation could be the existence of several filters that limit the total conversion of knowledge into economically useful knowledge. The vehicle to knowledge transfer is entrepreneurship. Therefore, the main actor is the academic entrepreneur, but no empirical study has highlighted the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship at the individual level. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of academics’ start-up intentions and knowledge filters on the knowledge transfer process within entrepreneurial university. Adopting the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship and the planned behavior theory, a proposed model was tested with a sample of 207 academics enrolled in entrepreneurial universities in Spain using structural equation modeling. Our findings could provide insights for policy-makers to design policies that bring further benefits to society and educational organizations as well as significant contributions to the literature.     

Does skilled migration reduce investment in human capital? An investigation on educational choices in Italian regions (2001–2016)

This paper investigates the effects of prospective migration on students’ investment in tertiary education. A simple theoretical model is presented in which individual educational choices, different across potential students because of heterogeneity in migration costs, are driven by expected returns and costs of tertiary education. In this framework, a larger probability of after-graduation migration is shown to affect educational choices by both reducing the rate of enrollment at home and favoring pre-graduation migration (i.e., enrollment at universities outside the residence region). The theoretical predictions are confirmed by the empirical investigation carried out on Italian interregional graduate migration in 2001–2016. In the lagging regions of Southern Italy, out-migration of students and graduates, and weak incentives to acquire tertiary education turn out to bring about depletion of local human capital.     

Reputational Implications for Partners After a Major Audit Failure: Evidence from China

This paper questions the taken-for-granted moral portrayal depicted in the extant literature and popular media of the devoted social entrepreneurial hero with a priori good ethical and moral credentials. We confront this somewhat ‘idealistic’ and biased portrayal with insights from unique large-scale data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2009 survey on social entrepreneurship covering Belgium and The Netherlands. Binary and multinomial logistic regressions indicate that the intention and dominance of perceived social value creation over economic value creation is indeed what makes social entrepreneurs unique. In contrast to the extant literature, however, our empirical investigation points at a reluctant attitude of social entrepreneurs toward entrepreneurship in terms of confidence in their skills to start and manage a business, their perception of entrepreneurship as a desirable career choice and their involvement in their activities. While the extant literature points at a strong entrepreneurial orientation as a source of ethical issues (e.g., mission drift, profit orientation), the main contribution of this study lies in the reverse observation: ethical issues are also likely to emanate from a frail entrepreneurial profile. We formulate empirically grounded propositions that may serve as a basis for theory-building and testing purposes.     

The missing pillar: the creativity theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship

Knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship and the prevailing theory of economic growth treat opportunities as endogenous and generally focus on opportunity recognition by entrepreneurs. New knowledge created endogenously results in knowledge spillovers enabling inventors and entrepreneurs to commercialize it. This article discusses that knowledge spillover entrepreneurship depends not only on ordinary human capital, but more importantly also on creativity embodied in creative individuals and diverse urban environments that attract creative classes. This might result in self-selection of creative individuals into entrepreneurship or enable entrepreneurs to recognize creativity and commercialize it. This creativity theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship is tested utilizing data on European cities.     

Trends in the market for entrepreneurship faculty, 1989–1998

The last decade has seen a dramatic rise in the number and status of entrepreneurship programs in schools of business and management. The popularity of entrepreneurship courses has increased dramatically among both graduate and undergraduate students. Alumni and external constituencies of schools of business have generally been supportive of the development of entrepreneurship programs, and in fact in many instances it has been the demands of these constituencies that have led to the creation or expansion of entrepreneurship programs within these schools. The growth in entrepreneurship programs has been fostered by an increase in the popularity of entrepreneurship, an increase in the status accorded entrepreneurs, as well as an increase in the recognition by the business press of the importance of entrepreneurship in the larger economy. Despite the increase in popularity within the field, there has also been considerable resistance from within the faculties of many institutions to the expansion of entrepreneurship programs. Faculty outside the field have been, and many remain, very skeptical about the validity of entrepreneurship as an academic field, the quality and rigor of entrepreneurship research and the need to hire academic faculty to teach and research in the field. The last decade has seen the confluence of these opposing forces.This disparity has created the question of whether the external forces supporting entrepreneurship are overcoming the inertia inherent in academic institutions and succeeding in institutionalizing the study of entrepreneurship within schools of business and management. This study hopes to shed some light on which of these forces is winning by addressing the question of whether the field of entrepreneurship is moving toward or has been institutionalized as part of the curriculum and research within schools of business and management. It also examines the institutionalization of the field by analyzing the change in the number and level of entrepreneurship positions, the quality of the recruiting institutions as well as the number, level and training of entrepreneurship candidates during the years 1989–1998. Data was obtained from the Academy of Management Placement Roster and The Chronicle of Higher Education for the years 1989–1998. Previous entrepreneurship education researchers have examined the number of endowed chairs and professorships, conferences, journals, programs and various centers for entrepreneurial education, however sparse research, if any, has been performed on the trends and characteristics of candidates and positions in the field of entrepreneurship.The results of this study are very encouraging. Both the demand for and the supply of entrepreneurship faculty have increased spectacularly during the last nine years. Between 1989/90 and 1997/98 the number of entrepreneurship positions increased 253% while the number of candidates increased by 94%. During this period the number of positions that list entrepreneurship as the primary field has increased ten-fold from 5 to 50 and the number of candidates that list entrepreneurship as their primary field has increased four-fold from 5 to 20. During the same period the number of secondary and tertiary positions have increased 116% and 78%, respectively, and the number of secondary and tertiary candidates have increased by 67% and 53%. The percentage of entrepreneurship positions listing entrepreneurship as the primary field has increased from 19% in 89/90 to 54% in 1997/98. Overall, the growth in the number of primary entrepreneurship positions is very encouraging.In the end, the results of this study are very encouraging. Both the demand and the supply of entrepreneurship faculty have increased spectacularly during the last nine years. The field has clearly made significant progress toward being institutionalized. However, it is still too soon to conclude that the commitment to entrepreneurship by schools of business and management is irreversible. One clear indication of the tenuous status is that, unlike strategy and international business, there has been no mandate from the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business that entrepreneurship be incorporated into the curriculum of all accredited schools. Entrepreneurship remains an elective subject in most schools and therefore depends on student interest. The field has made great strides during the 1990s, but a couple of hurdles remain.     

Entrepreneurship Education and Training in Higher Educational Institutions in Ghana

This study aims to evaluate entrepreneurship education and training in higher educational institutions in Ghana. The purpose is to come out with an innovative approach to teaching entrepreneurship. The mixed method research design was used to collect and analyze data from five out of ten polytechnics selected randomly. Chi-square analysis was used to explore the variables. The study revealed a continual usage of the traditional passive and the incremental teaching approach to entrepreneurship. This approach was observed to affect students’ ability to practically apply their knowledge and skills acquired through education and training. It is recommended that attention should be drawn to the globalized art of science of teaching and learning of entrepreneurship. To promote a strong educational system in teaching and learning of entrepreneurship, constant innovation should be encouraged. This would assist in producing competent graduates with employability skills.     

How policy positions women entrepreneurs: A comparative analysis of state discourse in Sweden and the United States

This research compares the positioning of women entrepreneurs through entrepreneurship policy over two decades (1989–2012) in Sweden and the United States. Given Sweden's uniquely family-friendly welfare state, we could expect different results, yet in both countries we find a legacy of discourse subordinating women's entrepreneurship to other goals (i.e., economic growth) and a positioning of women as ‘other’, reinforcing a dialogue of women's inadequacy or extraordinariness without taking full account of the conditions shaping women's work experience. From this analysis we derive a conceptual schematic of assumptions presented through the discourse, aligning and distinguishing the U.S. and Swedish approaches.     

基于创新创业能力培养的投资项目评估课程教学体系研究

在实施创新驱动发展战略的背景下,我国对创新创业人才的需求空前迫切。投资项目评估课程作为一门理论性与实践性并重的经济与管理专业课程,在创新创业教育教学实践中存在专业教育与创新创业教育缺乏融合、教师创新创业教育教学能力欠缺、学校缺乏创新创业实践平台供学生实践等问题。基于投资项目评估课程在教育教学实践中所存在的问题,研究该课程与创新创业教育有机融合的教学模式,为提高该课程的应用性,激发学生学习的积极与创造性,满足投资项目评估行业的创新创业人才需求,促进经济高质量发展提供参考意见。     

Machines augmenting entrepreneurs: Opportunities (and threats) at the Nexus of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to machines that are trained to perform tasks associated with human intelligence, interpret external data, learn from that external data, and use that learning to flexibly adapt to tasks to achieve specific outcomes. This paper briefly explains AI and looks into the future to highlight some of AI's broader and longer-term societal implications. We propose that AI can be combined with entrepreneurship to represent a super tool. Scholars can research the nexus of AI and entrepreneurship to explore the possibilities of this potential AI-entrepreneurship super tool and hopefully direct its use to productive processes and outcomes. We focus on specific entrepreneurship topics that benefit from AI's augmentation potential and acknowledge implications for entrepreneurship's dark side. We hope this paper stimulates future research at the AI-entrepreneurship nexus.Executive summaryArtificial intelligence (AI) refers to machines that are trained to perform tasks associated with human intelligence, interpret external data, learn from that external data, and use that learning to flexibly adapt to tasks to achieve specific outcomes. Machine learning is the most common form of AI and largely relies on supervised learning—when the machine (i.e., AI) is trained with labels applied by humans. Deep learning and adversarial learning involve training on unlabeled data, or when the machine (via its algorithms) clusters data to reveal underlying patterns.AI is simply a tool. Entrepreneurship is also simply a tool. How they are combined and used will determine their impact on humanity. While researchers have independently developed a greater understanding of entrepreneurship and AI, these two streams of research have primarily run in parallel. To indicate the scope of current and future AI, we provide examples of AI (at different levels of development) for four sectors—customer service, financial, healthcare, and tertiary education. Indeed, experts from industry research and consulting firms suggest many AI-related business opportunities for entrepreneurs to pursue.Further, we elaborate on several of these opportunities, including opportunities to (1) capitalize on the “feeling economy,” (2) redistribute occupational skills in the economy, (3) develop and use new governance mechanisms, (4) keep humans in the loop (i.e., humans as part of the decision making process), (5) expand the role of humans in developing AI systems, and (6) expand the purposes of AI as a tool. After discussing the range of business opportunities that experts suggest will prevail in the economy with AI, we discuss how entrepreneurs can use AI as a tool to help them increase their chances of entrepreneurial success. We focus on four up-and-coming areas for entrepreneurship research: a more interaction-based perspective of (potential) entrepreneurial opportunities, a more activities-based micro-foundation approach to entrepreneurial action, a more cognitively hot perspective of entrepreneurial decision making and action, and a more compassionate and prosocial role of entrepreneurial action. As we discuss each topic, we also suggest opportunities to design an AI system (i.e., entrepreneurs as potential AI designers) to help entrepreneurs (i.e., entrepreneurs as AI users).AI is an exciting development in the technology world. How it transforms markets and societies depends in large part on entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can use AI to augment their decisions and actions in pursuing potential opportunities for productive gains. Thus, we discuss entrepreneurs' most critical tasks in developing and managing AI and explore some of the dark-side aspects of AI. Scholars also have a role to play in how entrepreneurs use AI, but this role requires the hard work of theory building, theory elaboration, theory testing, and empirical theorizing. We offer some AI topics that we hope future entrepreneurship research will explore. We hope this paper encourages scholars to consider research at the nexus of AI and entrepreneurship.     

Community and aftershock: New venture founding in the wake of deadly natural disasters

The entrepreneurship literature has advanced our understanding of how natural disasters affect new venture founding in their wake. However, despite providing valuable insights, most existing studies focus on theoretical mechanisms that, explicitly or implicitly, invoke material losses or do not hone in on the theoretical effect of human losses caused by these events. This is an important omission because the social psychology literature suggests that individual reactions to human death are not only stronger than (i.e., higher in scale), but qualitatively different (i.e., infinitely stronger) from, those involving other types of losses. The present study addresses this oversight by drawing from the social psychology literature on the emotive and cognitive heuristics (e.g., the incidental emotion and availability biases) induced by human death and developing and testing a theory of how the death toll caused by natural disasters decreases new venture founding by inducing irresolvable uncertainty. Moreover, the study draws from research on how strong pre-disaster local participation in voluntary associations—by increasing the social, symbolic, cultural and material resources in a community—protects against such negative effects. Contributions to both the post-disaster venturing and the broader resiliency literatures are discussed.Executive summaryNatural disasters are on the rise, and the United Nations predicts that these phenomena will pose the single most important threat to social, political and economic stability in the upcoming decades. Entrepreneurship holds great promise for helping regions recover from the havoc wreaked by these events. However, much of the existing entrepreneurship research has not focused sufficiently on how the human death toll caused by natural disasters affects subsequent new venture creation. This is an important question because the existing psychology literature suggests that human death elicits disproportionately high negative individual reactions, which may lead prospective entrepreneurs in afflicted regions to stop or delay their plans to start new ventures, precisely at the time when those ventures are needed the most to help with regional recovery. This study fills this gap by examining how the death toll caused by natural disasters affect new venture creation in counties in the United States between 1991 and 2018. The study finds that the death toll caused by natural disasters in a county has a negative effect on post-disaster venturing in that county, but that strong pre-disaster participation in voluntary associations (e.g., the Girl Scouts, parent teacher associations, etc.) protects against this effect because it allows communities to work together to overcome the challenges posed by these deadly events. This last result highlights the importance that policymakers at every government level and local communities realize the critical role that local participation in voluntary associations prior to deadly disasters can have in fostering entrepreneurship after such events, thereby accelerating regional recovery.     

The Higher Educational Transformation of China and Its Global Implications

This paper discusses the major transformation of higher education that has been under way in China since 1999 and evaluates its potential global implications. Reflecting China’s commitment to continued high growth, this transformation focuses on major new resource commitments to tertiary education and significant changes in organisational form. All of these changes have already had large impacts on China’s higher educational system and are beginning to be felt by the global educational structure. This focus on tertiary education differentiates the Chinese case from other countries who earlier at similar stages of development instead stressed primary and secondary education.     

Franchising and the domain of entrepreneurship research

In this essay, we explore the relationship between franchising and entrepreneurship in general, and their research domains in particular. We begin by categorizing the focus of various representative definitions of entrepreneurship as: (1) traits, (2) processes, or (3) activities, and adopt the view that identifying the unique research domain of entrepreneurship is a more worthwhile endeavor than attempting to reach definitional consensus. We subsequently discuss the differences between entrepreneurship in the manufacturing and retailing contexts, and the particular features of franchising as it relates to the study of retailing entrepreneurship. Specifically, four areas are examined: the franchisor’s role in creating an innovative concept, the franchisee’s role in bringing the franchisor’s concept to new markets, the franchisee’s acceptance of risk, and the special issues surrounding the pervasive practice of multi-unit franchising. We conclude with a brief discussion of the reasons for including the study of franchising, franchisors, and franchisees as integral areas within the distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research, and similarly exhort franchising researchers to explore the implications of their work for the study of entrepreneurship.     

Only the lonely? The influence of the spouse on the transition to self-employment

Previous research showed that married individuals are overrepresented among the self-employed. Few studies proposed skill-spillover between the spouses within the marriage as an explanation. This paper deviates from the previous research by exploring different relationship contexts (e.g., cohabitation, being married or divorced, a widow(er) or single) and the role of partner influences under these contexts. It argues that the interaction between gender and relationship status implies variation in not only resources but also constraints, and hence sorts individuals into two different types of self-employment: entrepreneurial self-employment (i.e., incorporated business) and unincorporated self-employment. Using “Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) 1965–2005” data, results of the competing risk models show that marital status contributes to both types of self-employment transitions, especially for men, but also for women. Cohabitation is a less supportive context for entrepreneurship and a partner’s self-employment experience increases only women’s likelihood of entering into entrepreneurship. These results suggest that skill-spillover between partners might be context dependent and only in one direction (from men to women).     

What's Gender Got to Do with It? The Experiences of U.S. Women Entrepreneurship Students

The purpose of this case study was to understand the gendered experiences women students report while participating in a university entrepreneurship program. This qualitative study sought to shed light on some of the unanswered questions about women’s experiences by interviewing women entrepreneurship students and their faculty members at a university site. The data were analyzed through the lens of Acker’s theory of gendered organizations. From these data, themes were identified that can in turn help enrich entrepreneurship programs in the future.     

The Influence of Personality Traits and Demographic Factors on Social Entrepreneurship Start Up Intentions

The sheer impact of the recent global financial turmoil and scandals (such as Enron and WorldCom) has demonstrated that unbridled commercial entrepreneurs who are allowed to pursue their short-term opportunities regardless of the consequences has led to a massive depreciation of the wealth of nations, social livelihood and environmental degradation. This article suggests that the time has come for entrepreneurs to adopt a more integrative view of business that blends economic, social and environmental values. Social entrepreneurs present such a proposition through their deep commitment towards the social vision, appreciation of sustainable practices, innovativeness, ability to build social networks and also generate viable financial returns. It could be expected that social entrepreneurs often possess certain distinct personality characteristics which define their behaviours/actions. Personality traits are partly developed by innate nurturing, socialization and education. These tacit traits are also formed values/beliefs held and play an important role in driving social entrepreneurial decision making. Thus, personality traits may influence the intentions and the manner in which the individual acts. We hold that if social entrepreneurship is to be effective and impactful, business and management education can facilitate the development of these critical personality traits. Thus, this study primes at determining the personality traits that influence social entrepreneurs’ start-up intentions. It also reinforces the findings that personality traits do influence entrepreneurship in general. This study examines the influence of the Big Five personality traits on social entrepreneurship dimensions. The findings reveal that agreeableness positively influences all dimensions of social entrepreneurship, whereas openness exerts a positive influence on social vision, innovation and financial returns. Methodologically, this study develops valid and reliable scales for social entrepreneurship and verifies the adopted Big Five personality measure of Schmit et al. (Pers Psychol 53:153–193, 2000) using the five-point Likert scale. The implication of this study is that element of appreciation of social responsibility, sustainability and character development needs to be integrated within the business education curriculum to support social entrepreneurs in realizing genuine value and impact to the causes and communities they serve. Future business leaders also need to be equipped with entrepreneurship skills, while exuding independent and reflective thinking in the pursuit life-long learning. The originality of this study lies in its focus on personality traits on social rather than commercial entrepreneurship. It is hoped that the findings will trigger a paradigm shift towards greater social entrepreneurship through education by nurturing sustainable development values in future business graduates.     

Researching the entrepreneurial behaviour of new and existing ventures in European agriculture

This study analyzes differences existing between new and established agri-entrepreneurs as well as differences in relation to their counterparts in non-agricultural ventures. This study uses the resource-based view and institutional economics as conceptual frameworks and focuses on the analysis of the resources and capabilities; entrepreneurial orientation (risk-taking, proactiveness and innovativeness); and legitimation affecting the entrepreneurial process. The literature points out that the specific characteristics of the sector (strong family links and institutional support) can condition the entrepreneurship process. Thus, hypotheses are developed to test these relationships. We use random effects models to test our hypotheses with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for 20 European countries. Results show that agri-entrepreneurs have weaker entrepreneurial capabilities than other sectors. However, new entrants into the agricultural sector are not less entrepreneurial in relation to other sectors. On the other hand, established agri-entrepreneurs are less proactive than other sectors. Results suggest that new entrants into agriculture are more entrepreneurially oriented than established ones. Our study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by contextualizing the entrepreneurship process and providing valuable insights for policy-makers to enhance farmers’ entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial orientation.     

And no birds sing—reviving the romance with international entrepreneurship

This article contributes to the emerging debate over the nature and future directions of international entrepreneurship (IE). Our study extends the research of Jones et al. (2011) through a ‘review of the reviews’ of IE studies as well as a census of the articles published in the Journal of International Entrepreneurship (JIEn) between its inception in 2003 and the beginning of 2012. The results suggest relatively few studies focus on the nexus of international business and entrepreneurship (e.g. by investigating how innovative and entrepreneurial firms can internationalise rapidly). Although definitions of IE and INVs have become more ‘entrepreneurial’ over time, there has been a limited critique of the INV definitions of Oviatt and McDougall. We propose an updated definition of IE research that includes three elements that have been under-researched but which could help revive IE as a fruitful area of study: (1) clarification of the links between innovation, entrepreneurship and internationalisation, (2) greater emphasis on the nexus of international entrepreneurship and (3) a better understanding of the dynamic aspects of international new venture development, including networking, organizational life cycles and business model development.