Entrepreneurship Research in Emergence: Past Trends and Future Directions

Journal of Management, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 285-308, 2003

24 Pages Posted: 9 May 2011

See all articles by Lowell W. Busenitz

Lowell W. Busenitz

University of Oklahoma - Michael F. Price College of Business

G. Page West

Wake Forest University

Dean Shepherd

University of Colorado at Boulder - Department of Management

Teresa E. Nelson

Suffolk University

Gaylen N. Chandler

Utah State University - Department of Management and Human Resources

Andrew Zacharakis

Babson College - Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship

Date Written: May 4, 2011

Abstract

This article evaluates the emergent academic field of entrepreneurship to better understand its progress and potential. We apply boundary and exchange concepts to examine 97 entrepreneurship articles published in leading management journals from 1985 to 1999. Some evidence was found of an upward trend in the number of published entrepreneurship articles, although the percentage of entrepreneurship articles remains low. The highly permeable boundaries of entrepreneurship facilitate intellectual exchange with other management areas but sometimes discourage the development of entrepreneurship theory and hinder legitimacy. We argue that focusing entrepreneurship research at the intersection of the constructs of individuals, opportunities, modes of organizing, and the environment will define the field and enhance legitimacy. Decision theory, start-up factors of production, information processing and network theory, and temporal dynamics are put forward for entrepreneurship scholars to explore important research questions in these intersections.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, theory, research

Suggested Citation

Busenitz, Lowell W. and West, G. Page and Shepherd, Dean and Nelson, Teresa E. and Chandler, Gaylen N. and Zacharakis, Andrew, Entrepreneurship Research in Emergence: Past Trends and Future Directions (May 4, 2011). Journal of Management, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 285-308, 2003, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1831923

Lowell W. Busenitz

University of Oklahoma - Michael F. Price College of Business ( email )

307 West Brooks
Norman, OK 73019-4004
United States

G. Page West (Contact Author)

Wake Forest University ( email )

School of Business
1834 Wake Forest Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
United States

Dean Shepherd

University of Colorado at Boulder - Department of Management ( email )

Boulder, CO 80309-0419
United States
303-492-5962 (Fax)

Teresa E. Nelson

Suffolk University ( email )

Boston, MA 02108
United States

Gaylen N. Chandler

Utah State University - Department of Management and Human Resources ( email )

Logan, UT 84322-3530
United States

Andrew Zacharakis

Babson College - Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship ( email )

Babson Park, MA 02457-0310
United States