Entrepreneurship research: mapping intellectual structures and research trends

Abstract

Using bibliometric techniques to identify connections between existing entrepreneurship studies, this article seeks to understand the scientific structure of entrepreneurship research and how entrepreneurship scholarship is organized. Co-citation data and quantitative approach were used to identify scientific publications, intellectual structures, and research trends interrelated with theories of innovative entrepreneurship. Data were gathered from the citations and co-citations found in the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Science Citation Index, and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Our research reveals six groups of underlying entrepreneurship theories: (1) knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, (2) creation and networks theory, (3) decision-making theory, (4) specialization of labor, (5) social entrepreneurship theory, and (6) entrepreneurship in the informal economy.