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The social structure of entrepreneurship as a scientific field

Landström, Hans LU and Harirchi, Gouya LU (2018) In Research Policy 47(3). p.650-662
Abstract

Entrepreneurship as a scientific field has grown significantly, irrespective of the measures used. In this article we raise the question: How can we understand the evolution and success of entrepreneurship as a scholarly field? In particular, we focus on the social structure of entrepreneurship scholars to explain (1) how they are becoming integrated into larger scholarly communities and (2) how they differ from the way scholars integrate within the field of innovation studies. Based on a unique database and responses from 870 entrepreneurship scholars, we demonstrate that entrepreneurship can be regarded as a phenomenon-driven field bound together by a shared communication system and social interaction rather than strong theoretical... (More)

Entrepreneurship as a scientific field has grown significantly, irrespective of the measures used. In this article we raise the question: How can we understand the evolution and success of entrepreneurship as a scholarly field? In particular, we focus on the social structure of entrepreneurship scholars to explain (1) how they are becoming integrated into larger scholarly communities and (2) how they differ from the way scholars integrate within the field of innovation studies. Based on a unique database and responses from 870 entrepreneurship scholars, we demonstrate that entrepreneurship can be regarded as a phenomenon-driven field bound together by a shared communication system and social interaction rather than strong theoretical influences, i.e., a social scholarly community. We identify two broader social communities; one embedded in entrepreneurship conferences that includes a rather eclectic group of entrepreneurship scholars, and another related to entrepreneurship journals and entrepreneurship economics, characterized by a stronger domain orientation. In contrast, scholars in innovation studies tend to be more theory-driven and are bound together by their disciplinary and theoretical background, i.e., an intellectual scholarly community.

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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Networks, Scholarly community, Scientific fields
in
Research Policy
volume
47
issue
3
pages
650 - 662
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85041330748
ISSN
0048-7333
DOI
10.1016/j.respol.2018.01.013
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
173398e7-95ee-49b0-91fe-0d428b3a29a7
date added to LUP
2018-02-12 13:13:54
date last changed
2022-04-17 18:30:58
@article{173398e7-95ee-49b0-91fe-0d428b3a29a7,
  abstract     = {{<p>Entrepreneurship as a scientific field has grown significantly, irrespective of the measures used. In this article we raise the question: How can we understand the evolution and success of entrepreneurship as a scholarly field? In particular, we focus on the social structure of entrepreneurship scholars to explain (1) how they are becoming integrated into larger scholarly communities and (2) how they differ from the way scholars integrate within the field of innovation studies. Based on a unique database and responses from 870 entrepreneurship scholars, we demonstrate that entrepreneurship can be regarded as a phenomenon-driven field bound together by a shared communication system and social interaction rather than strong theoretical influences, i.e., a social scholarly community. We identify two broader social communities; one embedded in entrepreneurship conferences that includes a rather eclectic group of entrepreneurship scholars, and another related to entrepreneurship journals and entrepreneurship economics, characterized by a stronger domain orientation. In contrast, scholars in innovation studies tend to be more theory-driven and are bound together by their disciplinary and theoretical background, i.e., an intellectual scholarly community.</p>}},
  author       = {{Landström, Hans and Harirchi, Gouya}},
  issn         = {{0048-7333}},
  keywords     = {{Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Networks; Scholarly community; Scientific fields}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{650--662}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Research Policy}},
  title        = {{The social structure of entrepreneurship as a scientific field}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2018.01.013}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.respol.2018.01.013}},
  volume       = {{47}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}