What Are We Explaining? A Review and Agenda on Initiating, Engaging, Performing, and Contextualizing Entrepreneurship

PublicationArticle (with peer review)

contextualizing, Dean A. Shepherd, dependent variables, engaging, entrepreneurship, initiating, Johan Wiklund, Karl Wennberg, performing, Roy Suddaby

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is multifaceted. The purpose of this review is to acknowledge and critically assess the many and varied dependent variables (DVs) of entrepreneurship over the last 17 years. By focusing exclusively on systematically reviewing entrepreneurship’s DVs, this paper maps out, classifies, and provides order to the phenomena that scholars consider part of this self-defined field of research. Using a systematic selection process and an inductive approach to categorization, we offer a meta-framework for organizing entrepreneurship’s DVs. On the basis of this meta-framework, entrepreneurship involves the (a) initiation, (b) engagement, and (c) performance of entrepreneurial endeavors embedded in (d) environmental conditions in which an entrepreneurial endeavor is the investment of resources into the pursuit of a potential opportunity. For each category, we offer both a review of the different DVs and opportunities for future research.

Shepherd, D., Wennberg, K., Suddaby, R. & Wiklund, J. (2019). What Are We Explaining? A Review and Agenda on Initiating, Engaging, Performing, and Contextualizing Entrepreneurship. Journal of Management, 45(1), 159-196 DOI: 10.1177/0149206318799443

Evaluating Evaluations of Innovation Policy: Exploring Reliability, Methods, and Conflicts of Interest

Book chapterPublication

Collin, E., Sandström, C., & Wennberg, K.

Publiceringsår

2022

Published in

Questioning the Entrepreneurial State, 157.

Abstract

Expansions of innovation policies have been paralleled with an increase in the evaluations of such policies. Yet, there are few systematic evaluations of how such evaluations are conducted, by whom, and their overall conclusions. We analyze 110 evaluations of innovation policy in Sweden from 2005 to 2019. Our findings show that the majority of these evaluations are positive, about one-third are neutral in their conclusions, and very few are negative. The majority of evaluations were conducted by consulting firms, close to one-third by expert government agencies, and around 10% by university researchers or as self-evaluations by the governmental agencies responsible for the policy themselves. Few evaluations employed causal methods to assess the potential effects of policies. We discuss conflicts of interest and question the reliability of evaluations of innovation policy.

Absolute income mobility and the effect of parent generation inequality: An extended decomposition approach

Article (with peer review)Publication

Liss, E., Korpi, M., & Wennberg, K.

Publiceringsår

2023

Published in

European Economic Review, 152, 104359.

Abstract

We use full-population data to study trends in intergenerational absolute income mobility, measured as the ratio of children earning more than their parents, for 11 Swedish cohorts born 1972-1983. Absolute mobility during this period increases from 72% to 84% for men and from 76% to 86% for women-higher figures than in most other countries studied. To explain these results, we outline a novel decomposition strategy that accounts for cohort variation in parent-generation income inequality. All else equal, if income inequality is higher in the parent generation, more economic growth is required to achieve any given level of absolute mobility. We discuss implications for comparative research in intergenerational income mobility.

The Entrepreneurial Story and its Implications for Research

Article (with peer review)Publication

Brattström, A., & Wennberg, K.

Publiceringsår

2022

Published in

Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 46(6), 1443-1468.

Abstract

Research is not merely report-writing; it also involves elements of storytelling. In this essay, we reflect on two narrative archetypes in entrepreneurship research: the stories of entrepreneurship as a road to salvation and means to emancipation. We outline a framework to analyze research from a storytelling perspective, apply this framework to identify implicit assumptions and methodological biases in mainstream research, and discuss how a storytelling framework can be used to generate alternative stories. We argue for a more empirically grounded research agenda that continues the development of entrepreneurship research into a rich and diverse field.

Abstract

Similar content