A Scoping Study of Entrepreneurship Among Seniors: Overview of the Literature and Avenues for Future Research

Abstract

In recent years, we have witnessed a new phenomenon associated with longer human life expectancy: senior entrepreneurship. It has become increasingly common to see individuals aged 50 or more decide to become entrepreneurs. This phenomenon has aroused the interest of researchers. In order to shed light on this theme, we used the scoping study approach, which consists of systematically identi- fying papers in which the research focus was senior entrepreneurship. We retrieved 99 documents that dealt with this subject, 60% of which were conducted in 2012 or later. Early studies mostly used a quantitative approach, but researchers have eventu- ally migrated to a more qualitative and conceptual approach in more recent years. This article highlights the specific themes of these studies as well as certain gaps that we have identified in the literature that suggest promising avenues for future research. 1