[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wfo/wpaper/y2009i335.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Meaning of Entrepreneurship: A Modular Concept

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Peneder
Abstract
Entrepreneurship has been characterised as one of the most intriguing but equally elusive concepts in economics. This critical review first surveys its major intellectual roots and then proposes a modular concept of entrepreneurship that preserves its essentially distinctive behavioural, functional, and occupational dimensions. It argues that the behavioural definition identifies the only attribute that is both comprehensive and unique to the nature of entrepreneurship, while the functional and occupational definitions add what is specificity required for many analytical purposes. To validate the concept, the paper discusses the appropriate empirical units of observation and maps a general policy framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Peneder, 2009. "The Meaning of Entrepreneurship: A Modular Concept," WIFO Working Papers 335, WIFO.
    • Handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2009:i:335
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/35399
    File Function: abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David B. Audretsch & Isabel Grilo & A. Roy Thurik (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3856.
    2. Isabel Grilo & Jesus-Maria Irigoyen, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the EU: To Wish and not to be," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 305-318, May.
    3. Serguei Kaniovski & Michael Peneder, 2008. "Determinants of firm survival: a duration analysis using the generalized gamma distribution," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 41-58, March.
    4. Witt, Ulrich, 1999. "Do Entrepreneurs Need Firms? A Contribution to a Missing Chapter in Austrian Economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 11(1-2), pages 99-109.
    5. Thomas Grebel & Andreas Pyka & Horst Hanusch, 2004. "An evolutionary approach to the theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: John Foster & Werner Hölzl (ed.), Applied Evolutionary Economics and Complex Systems, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Plehn-Dujowich, Jose M., 2009. "Entry and exit by new versus existing firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 214-222, March.
    7. Baumol, William J., 1996. "Entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive, and destructive," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 3-22, January.
    8. Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2007. "Entrepreneurship and the process of firms’ entry, survival and growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(3), pages 455-488, June.
    9. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson, 2010. "Gazelles as job creators: a survey and interpretation of the evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 227-244, September.
    10. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    11. Witt, Ulrich, 1998. "Imagination and leadership - The neglected dimension of an evolutionary theory of the firm," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 161-177, April.
    12. Joop Hartog & Ada Ferrer‐i‐Carbonell & Nicole Jonker, 2002. "Linking Measured Risk Aversion to Individual Characteristics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 3-26.
    13. Edward P. Lazear, 2004. "Balanced Skills and Entrepreneurship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 208-211, May.
    14. Schultz, Theodore W, 1975. "The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 827-846, September.
    15. Schmitz, James A, Jr, 1989. "Imitation, Entrepreneurship, and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 721-739, June.
    16. David B. Audretsch, 1995. "Innovation and Industry Evolution," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262011468, April.
    17. Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2005. "Latent and actual entrepreneurship in Europe and the US: some recent developments," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2005-24, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    18. C. Mirjam Van Praag & Hans Van Ophem, 1995. "Determinants of Willingness and Opportunity to Start as an Entrepreneur," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 513-540, November.
    19. Nadim Ahmad & Anders Hoffman, 2008. "A Framework for Addressing and Measuring Entrepreneurship," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2008/2, OECD Publishing.
    20. Åstebro, Thomas & Thompson, Peter, 2011. "Entrepreneurs, Jacks of all trades or Hobos?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 637-649, June.
    21. Kihlstrom, Richard E & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 1979. "A General Equilibrium Entrepreneurial Theory of Firm Formation Based on Risk Aversion," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(4), pages 719-748, August.
    22. Silva, Olmo, 2007. "The Jack-of-All-Trades entrepreneur: Innate talent or acquired skill?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 118-123, November.
    23. Baumol William J. & Litan Robert E & Schramm Carl J, 2007. "Sustaining Entrepreneurial Capitalism," Capitalism and Society, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-38, November.
    24. John Foster & Werner Hölzl (ed.), 2004. "Applied Evolutionary Economics and Complex Systems," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3061.
    25. Beck, Thorsten & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2008. "Financing patterns around the world: Are small firms different?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 467-487, September.
    26. Robert B. Ekelund & Robert F. Hébert, 1991. "Dupuit's Characteristics‐Based Theory of Consumer Behavior and Entrepreneurship," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 19-34, February.
    27. Baumol, William J., 2008. "Small enterprises, large firms, productivity growth and wages," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 575-589.
    28. Albert N. Link, 2007. "Public Policy and Entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: David B. Audretsch & Isabel Grilo & A. Roy Thurik (ed.), Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policy, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    29. Nadim Ahmad & Richard G. Seymour, 2008. "Defining Entrepreneurial Activity: Definitions Supporting Frameworks for Data Collection," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2008/1, OECD Publishing.
    30. repec:bla:kyklos:v:48:y:1995:i:4:p:513-40 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. T. Grebel, 2007. "Neo-Schumpetarian Perspectives in Entreprenurship Research," Chapters, in: Horst Hanusch & Andreas Pyka (ed.), Elgar Companion to Neo-Schumpeterian Economics, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    32. Holmes, Thomas J & Schmitz, James A, Jr, 1990. "A Theory of Entrepreneurship and Its Application to the Study of Business Transfers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(2), pages 265-294, April.
    33. Wennekers, Sander & Thurik, Roy, 1999. "Linking Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 27-55, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Peneder & Martin Woerter, 2014. "Competition, R&D and innovation: testing the inverted-U in a simultaneous system," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 653-687, July.
    2. Chen, Yichun & Subhan, Mohammad & Ahmad, Gayas & Adil, Mohd & Zamir, M.N., 2024. "Unveiling the linkages among digital technology, economic growth, and carbon emissions: A resource management perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Olawale Fatoki, 2019. "Determinants of Social Entrepreneurial Intentions of University Students in South Africa," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(6), pages 72-80.
    4. , Aisdl, 2020. "Barriers to Entrepreneurship in Ho Chi Minh City," OSF Preprints sh32d, Center for Open Science.
    5. Szaban Jolanta & Skrzek-Lubasińska Małgorzata, 2018. "Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship: A Theoretical Approach," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 26(2), pages 89-120, June.
    6. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula, 2010. "Taxation, Labor Market Policy and High-Impact Entrepreneurship," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 275-296, September.
    7. Michael Peneder & Andreas Resch, 2015. "Schumpeter and venture finance: radical theorist, broke investor, and enigmatic teacher," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(6), pages 1315-1352.
    8. Sarah A. Low & Stephan Weiler, 2012. "Employment Risk, Returns, and Entrepreneurship," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 26(3), pages 238-251, August.
    9. Silvia Blasi & Silvia Rita Sedita, 2018. "L?impatto dell?universit? di padova sullo sviluppo dell?economia locale e sui processi di creazione di impresa dei suoi laureati," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(3), pages 72-85.
    10. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2014. "The Economic Contribution of High-Growth Firms: Do Policy Implications Depend on the Choice of Growth Indicator?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 337-365, September.
    11. Pablo Gluzmann & David Jaume & Leonardo Gasparini, 2012. "Decisiones laborales en América Latina: el caso de los emprendedores. Un estudio sobre la base de encuestas de hogares," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0137, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    12. Leunbach, Daniel, 2021. "Entrepreneurship as a family resemblance concept: A Wittgensteinian approach to the problem of defining entrepreneurship," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(1).
    13. Szerb, László & Varga, Attila & Komlósi, Éva, 2017. "Gyors növekedésű vállalatok Magyarországon. Az innovatív, a rejtélyes és a virtuális gazellák [Fast-growing businesses in Hungary: The innovative, mysterious and virtual gazelles]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 476-506.
    14. Dvouletý, Ondřej, 2020. "Classifying self-employed persons using segmentation criteria available in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) data," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    15. Peneder, Michael, 2010. "Technological regimes and the variety of innovation behaviour: Creating integrated taxonomies of firms and sectors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 323-334, April.
    16. Werner Hölzl, 2010. "The Economics of Entrepreneurship Policy: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 187-197, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Is entrepreneurship necessarily good? Microeconomic evidence from developed and developing countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(6), pages 1453-1495, December.
    2. Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik, 2010. "Entrepreneurship and its Determinants in a Cross-Country Setting," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 157-170, Springer.
    3. Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Drivers of entrepreneurship and post-entry performance : microeconomic evidence from advanced and developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6245, The World Bank.
    4. Vera Catarina Rocha, 2012. "The entrepreneur in economic theory: from an invisible man toward a new research field," FEP Working Papers 459, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    5. Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Entrepreneurship in Advanced and Developing Countries: A Microeconomic Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 6513, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Marco Vivarelli, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and Post-Entry Performance: the Microeconomic Evidence," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1286, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    7. Wim Naudé, 2008. "Entrepreneurship in Economic Development," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-20, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Niklas Elert, 2014. "What determines entry? Evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 55-92, August.
    9. Sander Wennekers & Roy Thurik & André Stel & Niels Noorderhaven, 2010. "Uncertainty Avoidance and the Rate of Business Ownership Across 21 OECD Countries, 1976–2004," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 271-299, Springer.
    10. Andrew Burke & Serhiy Lyalkov & Ana Millán & José María Millán & André Stel, 2021. "How do country R&D change the allocation of self-employment across different types?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 695-721, February.
    11. Verheul, Ingrid & Thurik, Roy & Grilo, Isabel & van der Zwan, Peter, 2012. "Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 325-341.
    12. Milo Bianchi & Magnus Henrekson, 2005. "Is Neoclassical Economics still Entrepreneurless?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 353-377, July.
    13. Jose Ernesto Amoros, 2009. "Entrepreneurship and Quality of Institutions: A Developing-Country Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2009-07, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. José Ernesto Amorós & Pekka Stenholm, 2013. "The Influence of the Quality of Government Institutions on Entrepreneurial Motivation: Exploring the Variance across Countries," Working Papers 1401, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Dec 2013.
    15. Andrew Burke & Stuart Fraser, 2012. "Self-employment: the role of intellectual property right laws," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 819-833, November.
    16. Erik Stam & Roy Thurik & Peter van der Zwan, 2010. "Entrepreneurial exit in real and imagined markets," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(4), pages 1109-1139, August.
    17. David B. Audretsch & Martin A. Carree & Adriaan J. Van Stel & A. Roy Thurik, 2002. "Impeded Industrial Restructuring: The Growth Penalty," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 81-98.
    18. Faggio, Giulia & Silva, Olmo, 2014. "Self-employment and entrepreneurship in urban and rural labour markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 67-85.
    19. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    20. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; innovation; market co-ordination; occupational choice; technology diffusion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2009:i:335. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Florian Mayr (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wifooat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.