After more than a hundred years of research on entrepreneurship, what about looking for H.E.R.?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer a well-known but always-current question: what is the focus of entrepreneurship research? Usually, scholars address their attention toward the boundaries of entrepreneurship, and question the possible overlaps with innovation, on the one hand, and management, on the other. Despite their relevance, achieved results are still uncertain and opaque. To overcome these limits, the present paper adopts a different approach and, instead of delimiting the boundaries, looks for the heart of entrepreneurship research – H.E.R. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews entrepreneurship literature not as a whole, but according to four main strands of research, respectively dealing with the telos (the Greek word standing for the aims), psychological traits, the context and the network. The results are read and interpreted to intertwine them and look for H.E.R. Findings This paper achieves two main results. First, it is clarified that H.E.R. consists of the adoption of dynamic capabilities by entrepreneurs and their networks in an attempt to foresee the future; the effort to work on entrepreneurial opportunities to make them mature for stakeholders and the market, thus reducing the likeability bias; and the reference to a context characterized by unknown unknowns. Second, by looking for H.E.R., it is possible to clearly distinguish entrepreneurship from other fields of research. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is among the first that look for H.E.R., the heart – and not the boundaries – of entrepreneurship research. Originality consists of adopting an unusual perspective to advance entrepreneurship studies and contribute to the international debate about their focus.