Epistemological foundations of international entrepreneurship

International entrepreneurship emerged in recent years as a promising research stream focusing on how firms explore and exploit opportunities across borders, creating customer value and anticipating competitors’ moves. This study addresses international entrepreneurship literature challenges by analyzing more than seventy studies from the last twenty-four years that deal with the international new venture’s phenomenon. Particularly this study discusses five literature challenges: the increased amount of international entrepreneurship content among different journals; the different types of research conducted in the international entrepreneurship field; international new ventures and high-tech industry; the controversy in the definition and the different labels given to the firms with international presence right from their birth or shortly after; and, the factors that characterize successful firm internationalization. The study findings offer a comprehensive review, synthesis, and organization in the field.     

Clarifying the domains of corporate entrepreneurship

While there is a broadly held belief in the need for and inherent value of entrepreneurial action on the part of established organizations, much remains to be revealed about how corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is defined in organizational settings. Fortunately, knowledge accumulation on the topic has been occurring at a rapid rate and many of the elements essential to constructing a theoretically grounded understanding of CE can be readily identified from the extant literature. Corporate entrepreneurship may possess the critical components needed for the future productivity of global organizations. However, it is a far reaching concept that encompasses differing aspects and as research continues to increase in this field a stronger perspective of what constitutes corporate entrepreneurship needs to be examined. Our purpose in this article is to outline the various domains that currently exist in the research arena of corporate entrepreneurship. Exploring these domains and gaining a sharper focus on the corporate entrepreneurship process may be a most important step for scholars interested in moving the field forward.     

Science-based entrepreneurship education as a means for university-industry technology transfer

This paper explores the potential of university-industry technology transfer through science-based entrepreneurship education (SBEE). The scientific literature focuses mostly on enabling university-industry technology transfer via university-industry collaboration in research, and not so much in (science) education. The paper identifies four strands of relevant literature for further theorizing SBEE principles to research its contribution to industry-technology transfer: 1. Embedding entrepreneurship education in universities; 2. Balancing theory and practice of entrepreneurship education; 3. Cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset through entrepreneurship education; and 4. Creating spin-offs through entrepreneurship education. One of the main theoretical contributions of this paper is, that SBEE is different from regular entrepreneurship education in its need for being firmly embedded in a science, technology and R&D environment, both within and outside the university. This is important in order to give SBEE students the opportunity to gain experience with handling the hurdles for successful university-industry technology transfer. The main empirical finding is that elements in the program, related to for example the balance between teaching entrepreneurship through theory and experiential learning, are not systematically covered. It means that fundamental questions such as: Can entrepreneurship be indeed taught? Which elements of entrepreneurship can be taught through theory, and which ones must be experienced in practice? are currently left unanswered. Systematic coverage of these questions enables a better exploitation of the possibilities that SBEE offers for university-industry technology transfer.

     

Sport-based entrepreneurship: towards a new theory of entrepreneurship and sport management

The entrepreneurship and sport management disciplines have grown significantly in the past decade. Sport is an entrepreneurial process as innovation and change are key elements of sport. The aim of this paper is to develop a theory of entrepreneurship in sports management by investigating the relationship between entrepreneurship and sport. The rapidly growing and developing sport marketing discipline provides a basis in which to understand how entrepreneurship occurs through innovation, proactiveness and risk taking activities. This paper discusses the connection between the entrepreneurship and sports management fields and argues that there needs to be more integration with the two fields of study and traditional entrepreneurship theory. A theory of sport-based entrepreneurship is developed and different types of entrepreneurship that occur in sports management are examined. Suggestions for future research and implications for practitioners are discussed.     

A critical appraisal of the social entrepreneurship paradigm in an international setting: a proposed conceptual framework

The concept of entrepreneurship embedded in the backdrop of business has been increasingly applied to the context of addressing social problems and sustainability challenges. Known as ‘social entrepreneurship’ the topic has garnered the heightened attention of researchers in recent years. As a nascent stream of research social entrepreneurship is still in the early stages of development. Recent evidence suggests a growing body of scholarly research in this field; however, its conceptualisation remains obscure as it is predominantly dictated by definitional arguments. Consequently, the literature is still anecdotal in trying to unveil different dimensions of social entrepreneurship and its potential benefits that might help to battle sustainability challenges. To bridge the existing gap in social entrepreneurship research this study adopts an inductive content analysis approach. Accordingly, a sizeable number of prior studies were extracted from five major databases from 1991 to date. Findings from the prior studies were synthesised in a systematic manner to draw valid conclusions. Based on the findings drawn from prior literature the study also proposes a conceptual framework and prompts further empirical research. The implications of the study are two-fold: academic and practical. The academic implication is primarily to contribute to the relatively uncultivated area of social entrepreneurship literature. The practical implications of the study are potentially instrumental for social entrepreneurs and policy-makers who are involved in social wealth creation. Moreover, the practical implication of the study is deemed to be very significant given the rising impetus of sustainability issues, where it is believed that entrepreneurs can play a vital role in this regard.     

Cultural norms & business start-ups: the impact of national values on opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs

It has long been known that the level of entrepreneurship, indicated as the percentage of incorporated and unincorporated nascent businesses relative to the labor force differs strongly across countries. This variance is related to differences in levels of economic development (Wennekers et al. 2005), but also to diverging demographic, cultural, and institutional characteristics (Acs and Armington 2004; Busenitiz et al. 2000; Fusari 1996; Karlsson and Duhlberg 2003; Rocha 2004; Thurik et al. 2006; Wong et al. 2005). Incorporating an institutional perspective, the aim of this research is to test if culture, operationalized through the World Values Survey (WVS) data, is a significant factor in predicting opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship rates at the country level. Opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship rates will be averaged from the 2001 to 2003 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and aggregated for 38 countries in this cross-sectional analysis.     

Role stress and entrepreneurship research

Entrepreneurship as a domain of research has grown by benefiting from more established disciplines. However, a commonality in the early stages of applying established theories to entrepreneurship is the lack of grounded research frameworks. This paper reviews literature on role stress and develops a conceptual framework that illustrates how this construct can serve entrepreneurship research. Based on a review of psychological and sociological literature, the paper proposes a model of antecedents and consequences to entrepreneur role stress. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are also presented.     

Individual entrepreneurship,collective entrepreneurship and innovation in small business: an empirical study

The study reported in this article examines simultaneously the impact of individual entrepreneurship and collective entrepreneurship on innovation in small business. It intends to address the weakness in previous entrepreneurship research that either only focuses on the individual entrepreneur's role in innovation (Miller 1983 Management Science, 29:770-791), or only stresses the importance of collective entrepreneurship (Reich 1987 Harvard Business Review, 65 (3), 22-83; Stewart 1989). The results of structural equation modeling analysis of data from more than 200 small businesses show that both individual entrepreneur(s) and the collective contribute to innovation in small business. Analysis results also reveal the complex relationships between the two types of entrepreneurship in terms of their impact on innovation in small business. Factors that contribute to collective entrepreneurship were found to contribute to individual entrepreneurship, while factors that are often associated with individual entrepreneurship were found to have negative impact on collective entrepreneurship. Communication among members of the small business, which was found to directly contribute to collective entrepreneurship, was found to contribute to individual entrepreneur's knowledge of emerging markets, products, and technologies. In contrast, centralized decision making, which was found to have direct negative impact on innovation, was found to have negative impact on collaboration and communication. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Bibliometric analysis of strategic entrepreneurship literature

As the integration of entrepreneurship and strategic management, strategic entrepreneurship (SE) and related research has been developing for more than 20 years. Enterprises need such a holistic perspective to survive and thrive in the current competitive environment, capturing the efforts to achieve long-term goals, as do entrepreneurs and managers. A comprehensive review scans the evolution of this integrated domain based on 365 publications extracted from Web of Science (WoS), which span from 2001 to 2021, while the knowledge and methods of bibliometrics are mainly employed to complete the process of analysis. To be specific, three aspects are primarily focused on: general characteristics of publications, cooperative relationship network and crucial content. All the analysis steps are realized through bibliometric visualization software VOSviewer and CiteSpace, and the results are then demonstrated in the form of data and graphs for conclusion and discussion. By providing an overall insight into SE, this article gains researchers’ better understanding of theoretical construction and achievements. More importantly, scholars may pay more attention to the development and research of SE from multiple fields.

     

Innovation-driven entrepreneurship in developing economies

The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (KSTE) has recently emerged as an influential research stream that examines the origin, development and economic impact of innovation-driven entrepreneurship. While empirical evidence has shown that the main premise of the KSTE generally holds in most advanced economies, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the extent to which the ideas advocated by the KSTE are generalizable to different contexts in developing countries. On applying a logistic multilevel analysis to a sample of almost 250,000 individuals across 45 developing countries, the results show that the different context found in developing economies produces a limited connection between knowledge spillovers, innovation and entrepreneurship in comparison with the conventional linkage studied in the KSTE literature.     

Theoretical foundations of Swedish entrepreneurship and small-business research

Our main purpose is to test the proposition that Swedish entrepreneurship and small-business research has established a theoretical platform of its own over the last quarter of a century. In order to cope with that challenge we have to provide answers to some basic questions, for example: (i) What theoretical basic elements can be identified in Swedish entrepreneurship and small-business research? (ii) Can we detect shifts in the theoretical basis over time? (iii) To what extent does the research accumulate to form a unified body of knowledge? References used in doctoral theses within this field of research between 1970 and 1995 constitute the basis for the analysis. The results of the study show that the research field is deeply rooted in the sphere of business administration, primarily in organisation and decision theory, and in a strong qualitative research tradition. The field is still very fragmented — it is difficult to identify any “core literature” and the number of different journals used in the research is large. However, during the last decade some interesting changes have taken place: (i) interest has grown among researchers in the field to seek the roots of the subject, which means that more references are made to the “classical works” in the research field, (ii) the academisation of the field has increased, as manifested in the growing use of scientific journals, as against official publications and “grey research literature”, and (iii) theoretical linkages to other fields of research (apart from business administration) have grown stronger. The results indicate greater specialisation and more attention paid to nuances in the research due to clearer definitions of important concepts and the generation of a vocabulary and models specific to the field. Also, the field is in the process of distancing itself from a purely technical approach to knowledge. However, we will still reject the initial proposition that the research field has developed a robust theoretical platform. The citation analysis provides an emergent pattern in the development of entrepreneurship and small-business research. In the seventies the research was empirically orientated, with a view to describing the phenomenon and making it visible in different contexts. The eighties were characterised by the positioning of entrepreneurship and small-business research within business administration, whereas the nineties have been marked by an attempt to create a separate identity as a distinct academic field of study. This is reflected in a growing interest in the origins of this field of research and a broadening of the research beyond the frame set by business administration. We believe that a favourable platform for a future specialisation of research challenges and integration of lines of thought is thereby created, which in turn will help the research field to mature and to develop its own theories and methodologies.     

Individual entrepreneurial orientation and performance: the mediating role of international entrepreneurship

This paper analyses the role that individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) plays in the success of international entrepreneurship moves. We focus on the mediation effect of international entrepreneurship in the relationship between IEO and firm performance. We argue that entrepreneurial experience constitutes an important source of IEO and propose an objective measure of IEO. The hypotheses are empirically analysed using a 22-year panel of family SMEs. Our results confirm the hypotheses and provide a better understanding of the role of IEO in the success of corporate strategies such as internationalisation. Specifically, IEO is found to improve firm performance indirectly by increasing the speed of internationalisation, and this effect is non-linear. Our study contributes to the literature by extending international entrepreneurship literature by offering a more complete view of the causes and consequences of IEO. Finally, our results also contribute to the literature on family firm heterogeneity.

     

Micro-foundations of environmental entrepreneurship resistance in SMEs

This article characterizes theoretical problems regarding the essence of environmental entrepreneurship resistance. The objective of the current research was to search for micro-foundations of environmental entrepreneurship resistance occurring in SME. We relate the concept of resistance in entrepreneurship with the idea of micro-foundations, thus creating new opportunities for analysis in two areas: conceptual view that interprets the phenomenon of resistance in relation to the organization's activities in the field of entrepreneurship, and cognitive supplementary knowledge of micro-foundations, which affect the entrepreneurial behavior of employees. Environmental entrepreneurship resistance in SMEs has been defined in our interpretation as targeted individual or collective daily activities, implemented from the perspective of various intentions, motivations and other internal and external premises, which are in opposition to commonly used pro-environmental activities constituting the CER component of small and medium business. In addition, we identified a group of 20 micro-foundations, which from the level of an individual or organization may constitute the initiation of entrepreneurial activities, focused on environmental protection in SME. The indicated group was examined on a sample of 122 employees of the SME sector in Poland. After performing qualitative and quantitative analyses, it turned out that eight elements could be considered as micro-foundations of environmental entrepreneurship resistance.

     

Exploring the determinants of digital entrepreneurship using fuzzy cognitive maps

In an increasingly digital world, almost anything can now be done through a computer or smartphone. Digital entrepreneurship is capitalizing on this trend, which brings numerous advantages to firms and society at large. However, the determinants of digital entrepreneurship’s success are still unclear, as well as how they relate to each other. This study sought to develop a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) to identify and analyze the determinants of digital entrepreneurship. Two group sessions were held with a panel of decision makers who deal with the digital entrepreneurship phenomenon every day. Based on their shared experience and knowledge, an FCM was developed and validated for this research context. Static and dynamic analyses facilitated a deeper understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships between the determinants of digital entrepreneurship, resulting in a well-informed framework that was validated by the panel members. This methodological procedure enabled an objective analysis of the dynamics behind digital entrepreneurship. The advantages and limitations of our constructivist framework are also discussed.

     

A political ideology lens on social entrepreneurship motivations

ABSTRACT

The traditional literature regarding social entrepreneurship does not question the political dimension. On the contrary, it tends to de-politicize societal issues. A growing number of researchers underline how this perspective cannot address the complexity and the dialogical nature of social entrepreneurship. However, while there may be a case for incorporating a political perspective, there is currently no conceptual framework to systematically inform an empirical exploration of the role played by the political vision of entrepreneurs. In this paper, we use the concept of political ideology to offer a solid framework to show how politics can shape social entrepreneurs’ motivations. More precisely we identify three political profiles – anti-statist, reformist and neoliberal – which shape the motives to engage in social entrepreneurship. We take an embedded case study approach of 17 social entrepreneurs involved in a social innovation boot camp and reveal the existence of both, left and right-wing approaches in social entrepreneurship.     

Challenges for spatially oriented entrepreneurship research

During the past two decades, interdisciplinary oriented entrepreneurship research focused increasingly on spatial aspects of entrepreneurial activities and support policies. This paper takes stock of central themes in entrepreneurship research at and across different geographic scales, the preferred sources of data and information as well as methodological approaches. It sets out to discuss the shifting interest of research over time and to sketch out theoretical and methodological challenges for further research. This paper is based on a review of 18 international journals in small business and entrepreneurship research, economic geography, regional economics and neighbouring sciences for the period 1990–2007. Altogether, 348 relevant articles were identified, read and classified. The analysis reveals that the entrepreneur's socio-spatial contexts in which they operate on a daily basis are still absent from much of the entrepreneurship debate. We suggest intensifying research efforts on the linkage between entrepreneurial activities and localities in order to reach a better understanding of the everydayness of entrepreneurship.     

Essential new PLS-SEM analysis methods for your entrepreneurship analytical toolbox

Rigorous research across the wide spectrum of entrepreneurship is important for developing knowledge and innovation in the field, which in turn offers building blocks for future inquiry, practice, innovation, and economic growth. For this reason, scholars continually seek new empirical analysis tools to examine constructs and variables included in their research. While many familiar tools remain at the core of the scholar’s tool box, PLS-SEM offers valuable options that have been accentuated by recent developments. This article provides a thorough review of PLS-SEM and its application to current entrepreneurship research, summarizes the emergent confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) processes for applying and interpreting the analysis, explains why PLS-SEM can be especially advantageous for research in this field, and concludes with suggestions for scholars as they plan future research projects. In addition, recent PLS-SEM developments are shared that may effectively apply to entrepreneurship research.

     

Venture capital and entrepreneurship: a conceptual model and research suggestions

This paper discusses the relationship between entrepreneurship, as an important factor to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, and venture capital (VC) in the context of China which has an emerging and immature market with high proportion of state-owned capital, imperfect legal system, inexperienced investors, and wrong market orientation. According to the exsisting literature and the development of Chinese VC industry, the conceptual framework we propose has five main elements: characteristics of VC, contextual issues in China, the meaning of the entrepreneurship, influence mechanism, and outcomes, including the change of entrepreneurship at individual and firm level as well as region and industry level. In addition to taking into account the selection preference of VC, two-sided moral hazard problem, and the special situation of Chinese market, the authers provide three suggestions for further empirical research to identify the effect of VC more precisely.     

Embeddedness in context: understanding gender in a female entrepreneurship network

ABSTRACT

In this paper I argue that through a process of embeddedness in context, a female entrepreneurship network is able to challenge gender structures. I investigate how a female entrepreneurship network is constructed and how they reinforce and possibly challenge existing gender structures. From an ethnographic study, three processes in the female entrepreneurship network were identified: making proper entrepreneurs, building relationships and engaging in change. In the different processes the women involved in the network reinforced gender structures through compliance with a masculine discourse of entrepreneurship, but also challenged gender structures through questioning this discourse. Through becoming embedded in their local community, the women entrepreneurs were able to take charge of the development of the network and challenge gender structures as a result of questioning the masculine discourse of entrepreneurship. This implies an interplay between embeddedness and gender as two separate but dependent processes. Linking together gender and embeddedness elicits a new take on the way female entrepreneurship networks are constructed and how they could advance gender equality within entrepreneurship. Consequently, this paper emphasises a need for further examination of embeddedness within gender and entrepreneurship research.     

Categories of university-level entrepreneurship: a literature survey

Research into the nature, antecedents and effects of university-level entrepreneurship has grown due to the emergence of the university technology transfer phenomenon and the evolution of university's role in national innovation systems and economic development. From the literature survey, three research categories for university-level entrepreneurship are identified and examined namely entrepreneurial university, academic entrepreneurship and university technology transfer. Then, a framework depicting the relationship of the three research categories is developed and discussed. Lastly, recommendations are made for future research and analysis.