Theorizing about Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The article discusses nature of entrepreneurship. At the start ofthe 1980s, entrepreneurship was, at best, a potentially promisingfield of scholarly inquiry. However, by the end of that decade, dueprimarily to impressive advances in its body of empirical knowledge,entrepreneurship could claim to be a legitimate field of academicinquiry in all respects except one: it lacks a substantial theoreticalfoundation. A major challenge facing entrepreneurship researchersin the 1990s is to develop models and theories built on solid foundationsfrom the social sciences. Theory building in entrepreneurship facesobstacles, some of which are enormous enough to faze even the foolhardy.The article discusses some of these obstacles and what they implyfor theory building. The article starts with problems caused by researchers'inability to agree on a definition of entrepreneurship. Next it willcharacterize the entrepreneurial process. Then the article will offersuggestions of what an "ideal"