Entrepreneurship in nonprofit organizations: a systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations play an important role in society. Given the importance of this sector and theme, this study aims to identify, analyze and systematize research on entrepreneurship in nonprofit organizations. For this purpose, a temporal analysis, as well as one for the methodologies used, and the evolution of the last three decades of research on the theme will be the object of this study. We adopted a systematic literature review as research method. We used the ISI web of Knowledge database to collect data, and after the selection process, 36 papers were identified and analyzed. Through the analysis of the results, we perceived that this is a recent topic addressed in the literature, with this review identifying the first research in 1995. Another conclusion is that most studies are of the empirical-quantitative type. Of the three decades analyzed in this study, the last decade (2011–2019) was the one in which the largest number of publications was registered. Finally, we present conclusions, theoretical and practical implications, suggestions for future research and limitations.