Abstract
Based on a systematic literature review of contemporary entrepreneurship process research, the article provides a supplementary way of categorizing research on the entrepreneurial process which takes philosophy of science into account to a higher extent than done in previous categorizations. The motivation for doing so is to minimize problems of communication and comparison of concepts, results and theoretical contributions often experienced in entrepreneurship research. Applying Burrell and Morgan’s (1979) paradigmatic framework to analyse the selected literature, it is suggested that the essence of past and present entrepreneurship process theory can be captured in five images of entrepreneurship: 1) The Image of Machines; 2) The Image of Evolution; 3) The Image of Contingencies; 4) The Image of Mind; and 5) The Image of Social Becoming. The five images are considered to be concise and easily recalled tools, which will be valuable in the continuous development and organization of future ideas in entrepreneurship research.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahlstrom, D., & Bruton, G. D. (2006). Venture Capital in Emerging Economies: Network and Institutional Change. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(2), 299–320.
Aldrich, H. E. (1990). Using an Ecological Perspective to Study Organizational Founding Rates. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 14(3), 7–24.
Aldrich, H. E. (1999). Organizations Evolving. London: Saga.
Aldrich, H. E., & Martinez, M. A. (2001). Many are Called, But Few are Chosen: An Evolutionary Perspective for the Study of Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 25(3), 41–56.
Ardichivili, A., Cardozo, R., & Ray, S. (2003). A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development. Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 105–123.
Austin, J., Stevenson, H., & Wei-Skillern, J. (2006). Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship: Same, Different, or Both? Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(1), 1–22.
Begley, T. M., & Boyd, D. P. (1987). Psychological characteristics associated with performance in entrepreneurial firms and smaller businesses. Journal of Business Venturing, 2, 79–93.
Bluedorn, A. C., & Martin, G. (2008). The time frames of entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing, 23, 1–20.
Brush, C. G., Manolova, T. S., & Edelman, L. E. (2008). Properties of Emerging Organizations: An empirical test. Journal of Business Venturing, 23, 547–566.
Bryant, P. (2009). Self-regulation and moral awareness among entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing, 24, 505–518.
Burrell, G., & Morgan, G. (1979). Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
Cardon, M. S., Zoetsma, C. Saparito, P., Matherne, B.P. & Davis, C. (2005). A tale of passion: New insights into entrepreneurship from a parenthood metaphor
Carland, J. W. (1984). Differentiating entrepreneurs from small business owners: A conceptualization. Academy of Management Review, 9(2), 354–359.
Chiasson, M., & Saunders, C. (2005). Reconsiling diverse approaches to opportunity research using the structuration theory. Journal of Business Venturing, 20, 747–767.
Churchill, N. C., & Lewis, V. L. (1983). The Five Stages of Small Business Growth. Harvard Business Review, 61(3), 30–50.
Cornelissen, J. P. (2005). Beyond Compare: Metaphor in Organizational Theory. Academy of Management Journal, 30(4), 751–764.
Czarniawska, B. (1999). Writing management: Organization theory as a literary genre. New York: Oxford University Press.
Davidson, P., hunter, E., & Klofsten, M. (2006). Institutional Forces: The Invisible Hand that shapes Venture Ideas? International Small Business Journal, 24, 115–131.
Davidsson, P., & Honig, B. (2003). The role of Social Capital among Nascent Entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 301–331.
Denyer, D., & Neely, A. (2004). Introduction to special issue: Innovation and productivity performance in the UK. International Journal of Management Reviews, 5/6(3/4), 131–135.
Downing, S. (2005). The Social Construction of Entrepreneurship: Narratives and Dramatic Processes in the Coproduction of Organizations and Identities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(2), 185–204.
Fairchild, G. B. (2009). Residential Segregation Influences on the Likelihood of Ethnic Self-employment. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(2), 373–395.
Fayolle, A., Kyrö, P., & Ulijn, J. M. (2005). Entrepreneurship Research In Europe: Outcomes and Perspectives. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Fitzsimmons, J. R., & Douglas, E. J. (2010). Interaction between feasibility and desirability in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Business Venturing. doi:1016/j.jbusvent.2010,01,001.
Gartner, W. B. (1985). Conceptual Framework for Describing the Phenomenon of New Venture Creation. The Academy of Management Review, 10(4), 696–706.
Gartner, W. B. (1988). Who Is an Entrepreneur? Is the Wrong Question. American Journal of Small Business, 12(4), 11–32.
Gartner, W. B., & Birley, S. (2002). Introduction to the Special Issue on Qualitative Methods in Entrepreneurship Research. Journal of Business Venturing, 17, 387–395.
Gartner, W. B., Bird, B., & Starr, J. A. (1992). Acting As If: Differentiating Entrepreneurial From Organizational Behaviour. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 16(3), 13–31.
Gartner, W. B., Shaver, G. S., Gatewood, E., & Katz, J. A. (1994). Finding the Entrepreneur in Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 18(3), 5–9.
Goel, S., & Karri, R. (2006). Entrepreneurs, Effectual Logic, and Over-Trust. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(4), 477–493.
Grant, P., & Perren, L. (2002). Small Business and Entrepreneurial Research: Meta-theories, Paradigms and Prejudices. International Small Business Journal, 20(2), 185–211.
Greiner, L. E. (1972). Evolution and Revolution in Economic Growth. Harvard Business Review, 76(3), 37–46.
Gundry, L. K., & Welsch, H. P. (2001). The Ambitious Entrepreneur: High Growth Strategies of Women-owned Enterprises. Journal of Business Venturing, 16, 453–470.
Haber and Reichel. (2006). The cumulative nature of the entrepreneurial process: The contribution of social capital, planning and environment resources to small venture performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 22, 119–145.
Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1977). The Population Ecology of Organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82(5), 929–964.
Hatch, M. (1997). J. Organization Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Haugh, H. (2007). Community-Led Social Venture Creation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31(2), 161–182.
Hjorth, D., & Steyaert, C. (2004). Narrative and Discursive Approaches in Entrepreneurship—A Second Movement in Entrepreneurship. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Howorth, C., Tempest, S., & Coupland, C. (2005). Rethinking entrepreneurship methodology and definitions of the entrepreneur. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 12(1), 24–40.
Hull, D. L., Bosley, J. J., & Udell, G. G. (1980). Renewing the Hunt for the Heffalump: Identifying Potential Entrepreneurships by Personality Characteristics. Journal for Small Business Management, 18(1), 1–18.
Hung, H. (2006). Formation and Survival of New Ventures. International Small Business Journal, 24(4), 359–378.
Jack, S., Dodd, S. D., & Anderson, A. J. (2008). Change and the development of entrepreneurial networks over time: a processual perspective. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 20(2), 125-159.
Jennings, P., Perren, L., & Carter, N. M. (2005). Guest Editors' Introduction: Alternative Perspectives on Entrepreneurship Research. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 29(2), 145–152.
Katz, J. A. (2000). Core publications in entrepreneurship and related fields: a guide to getting published, Version 3.2.4, URL: http://www.slu.edu/eweb/booklist.htm
Kickul, J., Gundry, L. K., Barbosa, S. D., & Whitcanack, L. (2009). Intuition Versus Analysis? Testing Differential Models of Cognitive Style on Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and the New Venture Creation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(2), 439–453.
Korunka, C., Frank, H., Lueger, M., & Mugler, J. (2003). The entrepreneurial personality in the context of resources, environment, and the start-up process—A configurational approach. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 28(1), 23–42.
Krueger, N. F., Reilly, M. D., & Carsrid, A. L. (2002). Competing Models of Entrepreneurial Intentions. Journal of Business Venturing, 15(5/6), 411–432.
Kuratko, D. F., & Hodgetts, R. (2001). M. Entrepreneurship, Orlando: Harcourt College Publishers.
Larson, A., & Starr, J. A. (1993). A Network Model of Organisation Formation. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 17(2), 5–16.
Legge, J., & Hindle, K. (2004). Entrepreneurship: Context, Vision and Planning. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Leitch, C. M., Hill, F. M., & Harrison, R. T. (2010). The Philosophy and Practice of Interpretivist Research in Entrepreneurship. Organizational Research Methods, 13(1), 67–84.
Lichtenstein, B. B., Dooley, K. J., & Lumpkin, G. T. (2006). Measuring emergence in the dynamics of new venture creation. Journal of Business Venturing, 21, 153–175.
Linton, D. J., & Walsh, S. T. (2008). Acceleration and Extension of opportunity recognition for Nanotechnologies and other Emerging Technologies. International Small Business Journal, 26, 83–99.
McDonald, S., Gan, B. C., & Anderson, A. (2004). Studying Entrepreneurship: A Review of Methods Employed in Entrepreneurship Research 1985–2004. Copenhagen, November: Paper presented at RENT XVIII.
McKelvey, B. (2004). Towards a Complexity Science of Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 19, 313–341.
McKelvey, B., & Aldrich, H. E. (1983). Population, Natural Selection and Applied Organizational Science. Administrative Science Quarterly, 82(2), 101–128.
Miller, D., & Friesen, P. D. (1984). A Longitudinal Study of Corporate Life Cycle. Management Science, 30(10), 1161–1183.
Morgan, G. (1997). Images of Organizations. Thousand Oaks: Saga.
Obloj, T., Obloj, K., & Pratt, M. G. (2010). Dominant Logic and Entrepreneurial Firms’ Performance in a Transition Economy. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(1), 151–170.
Quinn, R. E., & Cameron, K. (1983). Organizational Life Cycles and Shifting Criteria of Effectiveness: Some Preliminary Evidence. Management Science, 29(1), 33–51.
Read, S., Song, M., & Smit, W. (2009). A Meta-analytical Review of Effectuation and Venture Performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 24, 573–587.
Reynolds, P. D. (1991). Sociology and Entrepreneurship: Concepts and Contributions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 16(2), 47–70.
Reynolds, P. D. (1988). Organizational Births: Perspectives on the Emergence of New Firms. Academy of Management Proceedings, 69–73.
Reynolds, P. D. (1997). Who Starts New Firms? Preliminary Explorations of Firms-in-gestation. Small Business Economics, 9(5), 449–462.
Sarasvathy, S. D. (2001). Causation and Effectuation: Toward a Theoretical Shift from Economic Inevitability to Entrepreneurial Contingency. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 243–263.
Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217–226.
Steoherd, D., & Haynie, M. J. (2009). Family Business, Identity Conflict, and an Expedited Entrepreneurial Process: A Process of Resolving Identity Conflict, 33(6), 1245–1264.
Steyaert, C. (2005). Entrepreneurship: In between what? On the frontier as a discourse of entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2(1), 2–16.
Steyaert, C. (2007). ‘Entrepreneuring’ as a conceptual attractor? A review of process theories in 20 years of entrepreneurship studies. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 19, 453–477.
Steyaert, C., & Hjorth, D. (2003). New Movements in Entrepreneurship. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Steyaert, C., & Hjorth, D. (2007). Entrepreneurship as Social Change: New Movements in Entrepreneurship. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Timmons, J. A., Smollen, L. E., & Dingee, A. L. M. J. (1977). New Venture Creation: A Guide to Small Business Development. Homewood: RD Irwin.
Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a Methodology for Developing Evidence-Informed Management Knowledge by Means of Systematic Review. British Journal of Management, 14, 207–222.
Verheul, I., Uhlander, L., & Thurik, R. (2005). Business accomplishments, gender and entrepreneurial self-image. Journal of Business Venturing, 20, 483–518.
Vesper, K. H. (1980). New Venture Strategies. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Ward, T. B. (2004). Cognition, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 19, 173–188.
Westhead, P., Ucbasaran, D., & Wright, M. (2005). Experience and Cognition: Do Novice, Serial and Portfolio Entrepreneurs Differ. International Small Business Journal, 23, 72–98.
York, G. J., & Venkataraman, S. (2010). The entrepreneur-environment nexus: Uncertainty, innovation and allocation. Journal of Business Venturing. doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2009.07.007.
Zerbinati, S., & Souitaris, V. (2005). Entrepreneurship in the public sector: a framework of analysis in European local governments. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 17(1), 43–64.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nielsen, S.L., Lassen, A.H. Images of entrepreneurship: towards a new categorization of entrepreneurship. Int Entrep Manag J 8, 35–53 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-010-0159-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-010-0159-7