Entrepreneurship research

Abstract

PurposeWith the rapid emergence of scholarly thinking and analysis about entrepreneurship has come a multiplicity of approaches, emanating from different academic traditions. This has resulted in an academic field that is complex and heterogeneous with respect to approaches, methodologies and even the understanding about what exactly constitutes entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to try to reconcile the different approaches and views about entrepreneurship that are prevalent in the literature.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a literature review.FindingsThe paper finds that while such heterogeneity can be the source of a nuanced and at times contractor research field, it is also the source of richness and diversity that has contributed to making the emerging field so dynamic.Practical implicationsThe field of entrepreneurship should remain committed to a diversity of approaches, understandings and methodologies about what constitutes entrepreneurial activity.Originality/valueThe value of the paper is that it presents a coherent framework that reconciles disparate approaches and understandings about what actually constitutes entrepreneurship.