IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v25y2001i4p27-39.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is There an Elephant in Entrepreneurship? Blind Assumptions in Theory Development

Author

Listed:
  • William B. Gartner

Abstract

This article uses the six key specification decisions for entrepreneurship research (purpose, theoretical perspective, focus, level of analysis, time frame, and methodology) outlined in Low and MacMillan (1988) to explore unstated assumptions in entrepreneurship theory development. An article by Shane and Venkataraman (2000), “The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research,†is analyzed and recommended as a model for clarity. A recommendation is made that the field of entrepreneurship needs to develop communities of scholars identified with specific research questions and issues.

Suggested Citation

  • William B. Gartner, 2001. "Is There an Elephant in Entrepreneurship? Blind Assumptions in Theory Development," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(4), pages 27-39, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:25:y:2001:i:4:p:27-39
    DOI: 10.1177/104225870102500403
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/104225870102500403
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/104225870102500403?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Danny Miller & Peter H. Friesen, 1982. "Innovation in conservative and entrepreneurial firms: Two models of strategic momentum," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, January.
    2. Deborah V. Brazeal & Theodore T. Herbert, 1999. "The Genesis of Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(3), pages 29-46, April.
    3. Gartner, William B., 1990. "What are we talking about when we talk about entrepreneurship?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 15-28, January.
    4. Cynthia A. Montgomery & Birger Wernerfelt & Srinivasan Balakrishnan, 1989. "Strategy content and the research process: A critique and commentary," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 189-197, March.
    5. Colin Camerer, 1985. "Redirecting research in business policy and strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Joseph T. Mahoney, 1993. "Strategic Management And Determinism: Sustaining The Conversation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 173-191, January.
    7. Israel M. Kirzner, 1997. "Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 60-85, March.
    8. Howard E. Aldrich, 1990. "Using an Ecological Perspective to Study Organizational Founding Rates," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 14(3), pages 7-24, April.
    9. Raphael Amit & Lawrence Glosten & Eitan Muller, 1993. "Challenges To Theory Development In Entrepreneurship Research," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 815-834, September.
    10. Kenneth Arrow, 1962. "Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 609-626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Jeffrey Pfeffer, 1995. "Mortality, Reproducibility, and the Persistence of Styles of Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(6), pages 681-686, December.
    12. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521428316 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Gartner, William B., 1993. "Words lead to deeds: Towards an organizational emergence vocabulary," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 231-239, May.
    14. John Van Maanen, 1995. "Fear and Loathing in Organization Studies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(6), pages 687-692, December.
    15. Venkataraman, S., 1994. "Associate editor's note," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 3-6, January.
    16. William B. Gartner & Elizabeth Gatewood, 1992. "Thus the Theory of Description Matters Most," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 17(1), pages 5-9, October.
    17. repec:cup:cbooks:9780521417815 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Denis A. Grégoire & Martin X. Noël & Richard Déry & Jean–Pierre Béchard, 2006. "Is There Conceptual Convergence in Entrepreneurship Research? A Co–Citation Analysis of Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 1981–2004," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(3), pages 333-373, May.
    2. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    3. Landström, Hans & Harirchi, Gouya & Åström, Fredrik, 2012. "Entrepreneurship: Exploring the knowledge base," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 1154-1181.
    4. Gartner, William B. & Shane, Scott A., 1995. "Measuring entrepreneurship over time," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 283-301, July.
    5. Raouf Jaziri, 2009. "Une vision renouvelée des paradigmes de l'entrepreneuriat : Vers une reconfiguration de la recherche en entrepreneuriat," Post-Print hal-00829206, HAL.
    6. Mezias, Stephen J. & Kuperman, Jerome C., 2001. "The community dynamics of entrepreneurship: The birth of the american film industry, 1895-1929," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 209-233, May.
    7. Lowell W. Busenitz & Chung-Ming Lau, 1996. "A Cross-Cultural Cognitive Model of New Venture Creation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 20(4), pages 25-40, July.
    8. Ufuk Akcigit & Murat Celik & Daron Acemoglu, 2014. "Young, Restless and Creative: Openness to Disruption and Creative Innovations," 2014 Meeting Papers 377, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Kim, Jongwook & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2008. "A Strategic Theory of the Firm as a Nexus of Incomplete Contracts: A Property Rights Approach," Working Papers 08-0108, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    10. Magnus Henrekson & Anders Kärnä & Tino Sanandaji, 2022. "Schumpeterian entrepreneurship: coveted by policymakers but impervious to top-down policymaking," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 867-890, July.
    11. Hoe Chin Goi & Jiro Kokuryo, 2016. "Design of a University-Based Venture Gestation Program (UVGP)," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(01), pages 1-35, March.
    12. Bo Carlsson & Pontus Braunerhjelm & Maureen McKelvey & Christer Olofsson & Lars Persson & Håkan Ylinenpää, 2013. "The evolving domain of entrepreneurship research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 913-930, December.
    13. Muhammad Zubair Alam & Shazia Kousar & Muhammad Rizwan Ullah & Amber Pervaiz, 2022. "How creative destruction functions in corporate entrepreneurial process: an empirical investigation of Schumpeterian concept in engineering firm settings in Pakistan," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Ajay Agrawal & Joshua S. Gans & Scott Stern, 2021. "Enabling Entrepreneurial Choice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5510-5524, September.
    15. Daniel Hjorth & Bengt Johannisson, 2008. "Building new roads for entrepreneurship research to travel by: on the work of William B. Gartner," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 341-350, December.
    16. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. João J. M. Ferreira & Cristina I. Fernandes & Sascha Kraus, 2019. "Entrepreneurship research: mapping intellectual structures and research trends," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 181-205, February.
    18. Rumen Dobrinsky, 2009. "The Paradigm of Knowledge-Oriented Industrial Policy," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 273-305, December.
    19. Jeffery S. McMullen & D. Ray Bagby & Leslie E. Palich, 2008. "Economic Freedom and the Motivation to Engage in Entrepreneurial Action," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(5), pages 875-895, September.
    20. Agarwal, Rajshree & Shah, Sonali K., 2014. "Knowledge sources of entrepreneurship: Firm formation by academic, user and employee innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1109-1133.

    More about this item

    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:sae:entthe:v:25:y:2001:i:4:p:27-39. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.