Researching entrepreneurship and education: Part 1: what is entrepreneurship and does it matter?

Abstract

Purpose

This article is the first in a series of conceptual and empirical contributions that, individually and cumulatively, seek to analyse, develop and link two important fields of research: “entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneurship education”.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper undertakes a critical literature review and a methodical evaluation of current knowledge on topics related directly and indirectly to “entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneurship education”.

Findings

A critical evaluation of the literature on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education has highlighted a number of definitional, conceptual and contextual weaknesses inherent in these two interrelated fields of research. Importantly, both fields of knowledge share similar definitional weaknesses and methodological inadequacies. The paper proposes an encompassing working definition of entrepreneurship (including intrapreneurship) and a basic typology of relevant entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activities. This converging approach combines the two units of analysis, i.e. the entrepreneur and/or the intrapreneur as well as the entrepreneurial and/or intrapreneurial firm. In terms of a basic typology, the paper recommends Westhead and Wright's suggestion that entrepreneurs can be categorised into three broad groups: “novice,” “serial,” and “portfolio,”. This “converging approach” to entrepreneurship would bridge the most obvious aspects of empirical discord and provide better comparative and more generalisable research.

Research limitations/implications

The evaluation and interpretation of emergent results represent the author's own perceptions, experiences and biases – and should therefore be viewed with caution. Thus, this article is subject to the usual bias and singular perspective which is generally attributable to “viewpoint” articles.

Originality/value

The paper proposes an encompassing working definition of entrepreneurship and a basic typology of relevant entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activities.

Citation

Matlay, H. (2005), "Researching entrepreneurship and education: Part 1: what is entrepreneurship and does it matter?", Education + Training, Vol. 47 No. 8/9, pp. 665-677. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910510633198