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Entrepreneurship as a new liberal art

Author

Listed:
  • Ted Baker

    (Rutgers University
    University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business)

  • E. Erin Powell

    (Clemson University)

Abstract

The skills and knowledge required to engage in entrepreneurship are vital elements of participating fully in contemporary society. We consider the “crisis” in the liberal arts in the USA and show why entrepreneurship can and should be considered fundamental to a renewed and contemporary conception of the liberal arts. Integral to our arguments is a pragmatic view that considers research and teaching in entrepreneurship to be inextricably intertwined. By examining the study of organizations across several social science and humanities disciplines, we highlight the relative narrowness of the current empirical domain of much entrepreneurship research associated with business schools and management journals and develop examples showing the potential theoretical value of substantially expanding the empirical domain of entrepreneurship as organization creation for both research and teaching. Our argument is that the study of entrepreneurship as a new liberal art can be an important source of individual and group emancipation and a fundamental means through which entrepreneurs can become who they want to be while creating the impact on the world they envision. We offer this as a statement of the appropriate domain of entrepreneurship to guide our approach to both research and teaching.

Suggested Citation

  • Ted Baker & E. Erin Powell, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as a new liberal art," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 405-418, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:52:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11187-018-0099-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-018-0099-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Friederike Welter & Ted Baker, 2021. "Moving Contexts Onto New Roads: Clues From Other Disciplines," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1154-1175, September.
    2. Philip T. Roundy, 2021. "On Entrepreneurial Stories: Tolkien’s Theory of Fantasy and the Bridge between Imagination and Innovation," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 9(1), pages 31-45, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Growth; Founder identity; Liberal arts; Resourcefulness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory

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