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.
