In entrepreneurship research, meta-analysis has been used both for describing phenomena and for drawing inferences. Meanwhile, this study identified 92 meta-analyses that have been conducted in the domain of entrepreneurship. This paper reviews these analyses with two main purposes. First, this paper provides a state-of-the-art summary of meta-analysis findings to show the empirical evidence on concepts, relationships and theories. Such evidence leads to practice recommendations. This paper also points to areas that may need future meta-analyses. Second, this paper provides a state-of-the-art summary on how meta-analyses are conducted, what methodological choices need to be considered, and how meta-analysis results should be interpreted. The authors hope that this paper also provides some ideas and guidelines on how to proceed with rigor into the future of meta-analysis in entrepreneurship research and how to arrive at valid inferences from meta-analyses conducted in the field.
Homophily, the tendency of individuals to associate with others who are similar to themselves, shapes entrepreneurial behavior and outcomes by influencing how entrepreneurs connect, collaborate and access resources. Despite a growing research interest, the field still lacks a comprehensive overview of the role of homophily in the entrepreneurial process, especially as digital technologies fundamentally reshape patterns of social interaction. This monograph integrates entrepreneurship and finance literature to examine the connections between homophily and entrepreneurship across venture creation, development and financing. The authors highlight that homophily affects the entrepreneurial process in multiple ways. On the one hand, it facilitates trust, cooperation and resource mobilization during venture creation; it influences team composition and strategic choices during venture development; and it shapes access to finance. On the other hand, homophily can also produce exclusionary effects by limiting diversity, innovation and access to investors. They discuss how the digital transformation of entrepreneurial ecosystems is reshaping homophilous relationships. Digital platforms, social media and algorithmic matching tools have altered patterns of social interaction, introducing new forms of network formation and potentially amplifying or mitigating homophilic bias. They offer insights into analyzing homophily in the digital age and outline directions for future research.
Digitalization is profoundly reshaping the nature, scope and geography of entrepreneurship. In this study, the authors develop the concept of the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem (DEE) as a systemic framework to understand entrepreneurship in the digital age. Building on and extending prior work by Sussan and Acs (2017) and Song (2019), the authors provide a theoretical synthesis that integrates entrepreneurial ecosystem thinking with the logic of digital platforms, user participation and multiagency entrepreneurship. On this foundation, the authors construct a composite index – the DEE Index – covering 170 countries from 2017 to 2022. The index includes twelve pillars organized into four sub-indices: digital technology infrastructure, digital user citizenship, digital multisided platforms and digital technology entrepreneurship. Methodologically, the authors introduce a novel approach combining systemic interaction modeling, pooled normalization and a penalty for bottlenecks to account for structural weaknesses in ecosystems. The result is a multidimensional framework that offers rich insights for scholars and policymakers on the enabling conditions and constraints for digital entrepreneurship across different regions.
Entrepreneurship research and practice acknowledges that entrepreneurship is not an individual endeavor, but a collective effort of multiple stakeholders surrounding and supporting entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs’ personal relationships are essential to firm development. This review aims to map the existing academic literature on entrepreneurs and their personal relationships. Our systematic literature review indicates that the literature has started to provide answers to the following questions: (i) Which personal relationships do entrepreneurs have and what is their purpose? (ii) How are these relationships formed and how do they evolve? (iii) How do these relationships shape the entrepreneur and their venture? We discuss important research gaps, alongside an agenda with recommendations for future research.
This monograph provides an overview of the current state of female participation in academic entrepreneurship and focuses on theories, approaches, and evidence in the university setting. Women represent a valuable yet underrepresented capital for economies and societies, and universities have recently made the effort to support and foster female participation in both science and entrepreneurship. However, differences in entrepreneurship rates between men and women still exist. This monograph offers a comprehensive framework drawn from the process-based concept of academic entrepreneurship, encompassing mindset, intention, and action. Each phase is discussed separately in terms of both student and faculty entrepreneurship, with the aim of detecting complementary findings and theories. Special focus is placed on the influence of context, since the unique factors of a university setting might mitigate the gender disparity in academic entrepreneurship and offer avenues for further investigation. In doing so, this monograph seeks to identify gaps in the field and areas for future research.
This work examines the growth and evolution of arts entrepreneurship education (AEE) in higher education institutions (HEIs) over the past decade. It examines the conceptual evolution of AEE as an emerging academic discipline, its diverse program offerings, and the teaching and learning of entrepreneurial competencies for arts students. The work advocates for innovative pedagogies and curricular approaches that balance artistic integrity with entrepreneurial success. The analysis identifies trends in program structures and competency frameworks in preparing arts graduates for dynamic careers. This review concludes with insights into future research directions in curriculum and pedagogical design, student outcome and program impact evaluation, and career/cultural sustainability in AEE.
This article examines the influence of entrepreneurialism on the self-conceptions and practices of contemporary artists, highlighting the interplay between traditional artistic values and emerging entrepreneurial norms. We explore the sociological processes through which precarious labor markets and entrepreneurial discourses have reshaped artistic subjectivities. Artists today navigate fragmented careers marked by overwork, uncertainty, and excessive self-promotion, while simultaneously reinterpreting ideals like autonomy, creativity, and authenticity through entrepreneurial lenses. We underscore the ambivalence artists experience in engagements with entrepreneurialism: some embracing it as a pathway to fulfillment, while others critique its alignment with market logics. By situating entrepreneurialism within broader cultural and structural contexts, we reveal the ways that it naturalizes precarious conditions and reinforces individual responsibility for success. Ultimately, this work calls for critical engagement with the entrepreneurial spirit that shapes modern art worlds and emphasizes the need to address structural inequalities in creative industries.
In contrast to more traditional approaches used to study entrepreneurship, this work applies a behavioral approach to understand the motivations and actions of artists and creative practitioners who navigate art worlds and markets. Our examination of cultural entrepreneurship focuses upon how psychological phenomena including role identity, motivation, contextual factors and passion serve to drive cultural enterprising actions. Unlike traditional approaches to entrepreneurship which often focuses on profit and treat the presence of entrepreneurship within the economy as exogenous determined, a behavioral approach delves into intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as key motivators for entrepreneurial intentions and action. Applying behavioral approaches to cultural entrepreneurship brings not only more realistic assumptions to models used to predict and understand behavior, but also provides vital insights that can inform policy-making and initiatives designed to foster and promote the cultural and creative industries that reposition the artist to be in greater proximity to the market.
This work introduces the core logic of economics and of finance along with a number of business-model patterns in the creative industries. The core logic of economics is that price equals value, and that revenue must cover expense. The core logic of finance is that risk and return move in lockstep. The arts present interesting challenges to both: cultural entrepreneurs are often investors and producers. They must cover ongoing expenses while also taking risk to create things of value before that value is known. While Baumol and Bowen coined the term "cost disease" in 1966 to describe the difficulties of cost-intensive models in the arts, newer entrepreneurial forms are embracing shared resources, fractionalization, and cooperative ventures that point to new organizational models in the arts and cultural sector. With cases ranging from emerging galleries to auction houses, this work focuses on visual arts, though connects those models to performing arts and other creative industries.
This work explores the concept of cultural entrepreneurship, synthesizing diverse scholarly perspectives to develop a comprehensive working definition. Cultural entrepreneurship is framed as both entrepreneurial activity within cultural industries and the innovation of cultural values through entrepreneurial actions. Drawing on foundational contributions, the work highlights debates surrounding the balance between culture and commerce, the role of agency versus structural constraints, and the evolving impact of digital media. Economic perspectives foreground the tension between artistic creativity and economic viability, while others emphasize the transformative social and cultural dimensions of entrepreneurial action. By integrating these perspectives, the work defines cultural entrepreneurship as a process of creating, transforming, or disseminating cultural products and values, emphasizing its interdisciplinary nature and contextual dependency. This framework sets the stage for subsequent discussions on the dynamic interplay of culture, economy, and innovation as presented in the rest of the volume.
Artists are pursuing entrepreneurial actions across the civic sector to influence societal structures that sustain daily life from transportation and parks to public health and education. While public trust in government is eroding and civic problems are increasingly complex, civic leaders and communities alike are seeking new collaborators and new interventions. In response, artists are collaborating with organizations across the civic sector using creative methods and approaches. This work takes many forms such as artists embedded in government agencies for time-bound collaboration, new approaches to civic work that includes arts engagement, and activist tactics to advance community change. This work introduces arts entrepreneurship in the civic sector by presenting its history and context, analyzing relationship and partnership models, and details specific fields where the work is happening with short examples. The discussion is focused on the US context and draws on literature across cultural policy, entrepreneurship, arts, and planning.
This work examines the labor market behavior of cultural entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on artists as representative "modal" workers within this group. Using labor market data from the United States, it highlights the distinctive challenges faced by artists, including precarious gig work, freelancing, and temporary contracts. These conditions often require artists to balance creative passions with economic necessity, navigating between non-arts jobs for financial stability and artistic endeavors for fulfillment. The work also delves into the role of higher education, exploring its costs and benefits for artists, who often achieve modest economic returns despite high levels of educational attainment. Further, it discusses the prevalence of non-standard employment among artists, emphasizing their entrepreneurial strategies, such as hybrid work models and self-employment, which provide flexibility and foster innovation. By synthesizing insights from labor market trends, the work underscores the unique dynamics shaping the careers of cultural entrepreneurs, offering a foundation for understanding their broader societal and economic contributions.
This work employs a review of recent literature to determine if arts incubators continue to be an important tool for fostering cultural entrepreneurship in the US. It also brings up to date the author's 2014 typology of arts incubators by examining the current state of the 43 organizations used to develop that typology. That assessment indicates that as the impacts of the Great Recession waned, so too did interest in publicly funded arts incubation programs and that the longevity of arts incubators is correlated with a community-engaged mission and strong leadership.
This work examines cultural entrepreneurship within under-served communities (UCE), focusing on artist entrepreneurs who have historically faced underrepresentation, disinvestment, and systemic barriers in entrepreneurial activities. It explores the challenges these communities encounter, including discrimination, limited access to financial and professional networks, and exclusion from major cultural institutions. Despite these obstacles, artists from underserved backgrounds play a crucial role in enriching the cultural and creative industries, leveraging their work to express identity, foster social cohesion, drive economic development, and engage in political activism. The work highlights the intersectionality of entrepreneurial and social identities, the nature of social entrepreneurship within cultural enterprises, and the importance of inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystems. Addressing knowledge gaps, it proposes a future research agenda to better understand the dynamics of UCE and its impact on community revitalization. The work concludes with policy and practice recommendations that integrate cultural policy with economic development, fostering an equitable and sustainable environment for artist entrepreneurs in underserved communities.
Entrepreneurship studies has an uneasy relationship with mainstream economics. This monograph attempts to bridge the gap by presenting a formal mathematical theory of entrepreneurship, focusing on competing entrepreneurs operating in a segmented market. The entrepreneur is modelled as an innovative market-maker, discovering opportunities for trade. Each market segment is characterised by a maximum price that customers are willing to pay, and a quantity that they are willing to buy at that maximum price. The model can solve for the outcome of complicated market structures using a simple technique, namely linear programming. A remarkable feature of the model is that it re-ignites his- toric debates in mainstream economic theory that have never been fully resolved, and are largely ignored in contemporary economic literature. It shows that markets normally have two prices-not one- namely a wholesale price and a retail price-and that, owing to segmentation, prices are not normally uniform but dispersed. The mathematical model is sufficiently simple that it does not require calculus, and the method of solution is so straightforward that the requisite techniques can be freely accessed on a laptop.
Literature reviews have concluded that entrepreneurship education and training programs are particularly effective in fostering entrepreneurship when they are action-oriented (e.g., Carpenter and Wilson, 2022). Despite this, the theoretical understanding of the training design elements, mechanisms, and boundary conditions of such programs is still limited. We suggest that the concept of active learning provides a useful theoretical framework to explain the effectiveness of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training. Referring to the concept of active learning, we review the literature to present an overview of the short- and long-term effects on entrepreneurial outcomes as well as within-training processes and differential effects of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training programs. Based on the review, we present an extended active learning framework of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training that adds coaching/mentoring and working in teams to the core training design elements of control, exploration/experimentation, and information provision. Furthermore, the extended active learning framework describes the within- and post-training processes as well as the short-term learning and long-term entrepreneurial outcomes of action-oriented entrepreneurship education and training. We conclude by presenting avenues for future research.
Uncertainty and Entrepreneurship provides a critical review of the uncertainty research, with implications for a field that has had an existential relationship with it ever since Knight's clear delineation of the term as an essential wedge for new entry. We take a two-step approach in our literature review - where the objective facts are separated from the subjective interpretations - setting the new standard for such work. First, we provide the raw data taken directly from the hundreds of papers reviewed. This data is contextualized with definitions of key terms, the foundations of key concepts, and the limitations involved. Second, we provide our subjective analysis of that raw data. We assess the past research on uncertainty and its lack of evolution, discussing the theoretical and managerial implications. We find that much uncertainty-related alchemy exists - i.e., where a paper defines uncertainty as a condition that renders a focal decision unoptimizable, prior to it then suggesting a "new" optimization path. We make a clear and evidence-based case that the recent surge of such alchemy falls squarely on journal editors. We explain how this kind of misrepresentation of uncertainty has tarnished most of the recent theorizing in the field. As a result, we recommend significant changes.
While entrepreneurship has traditionally been studied from the perspective of the entrepreneur or entrepreneurial enterprise, a modern view emphasizes the importance of the context in which the entrepreneur or enterprise operates. From this perspective, the entrepreneurial ecosystem describes the entrepreneurial context by disentangling the complex interdependent interactions between various organizations (biocenosis) and the milieu/environment in which the entrepreneur or company operates (biotope). However, previous research has neglected to provide a holistic view of the complex dynamics of ecosystems. In response, this study sheds light on the state of the art of this emerging theoretical framework, identifies research gaps that require further investigation, and designs a research program (i.e., the BEES program, Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Sustainably) to provide concrete directions for the development of entrepreneurial firms. This program contributes (i) to the theorization of the entrepreneurial ecosystems theoretical stream through a holistic vision; (ii) to a better understanding of the complex strategic dynamics and behaviors in this context; (iii) and to its successful implementation in different contexts. The BEES program facilitates the adoption of an ecosystem approach to building an entrepreneurial society and provides the impetus for the construction of a new school of scientific thought based on the ecosystem approach.
