IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v99y2019icp226-237.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethics and entrepreneurship: A bibliometric study and literature review

Author

Listed:
  • Vallaster, Christine
  • Kraus, Sascha
  • Merigó Lindahl, José M.
  • Nielsen, Annika

Abstract

The entrepreneurship literature pays increasing attention to the ethical aspects of the field. However, only a fragmented understanding is known about how the context influences the ethical judgment of entrepreneurs. We argue that individual socio-cultural background, organizational and societal context shape entrepreneurial ethical judgment. In our article, we contribute to contemporary literature by carving out the intersections between Ethics and Entrepreneurship. We do this by employing a two-step research approach: 1) We use bibliometric techniques to analyze 719 contributions in Business and Economics research and present a comprehensive contextual picture of ethics in entrepreneurship research by a analyzing the 30 most relevant foundation articles. 2) A subsequent content analysis of the 50 most relevant academic contributions was carried with an enlarged database out to augment these findings, detailing ethics and entrepreneurship research on an individual, organizational and societal level of analyses. By comparing the two analyses, this paper concludes by outlining possible avenues for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Vallaster, Christine & Kraus, Sascha & Merigó Lindahl, José M. & Nielsen, Annika, 2019. "Ethics and entrepreneurship: A bibliometric study and literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 226-237.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:99:y:2019:i:c:p:226-237
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.050
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296319301407
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.050?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McVea, John F., 2009. "A field study of entrepreneurial decision-making and moral imagination," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 491-504, September.
    2. Zahra, Shaker A. & Gedajlovic, Eric & Neubaum, Donald O. & Shulman, Joel M., 2009. "A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 519-532, September.
    3. Veroniek Collewaert & Yves Fassin, 2013. "Conflicts between entrepreneurs and investors: the impact of perceived unethical behavior," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 635-649, April.
    4. William P. Cordeiro, 2011. "Entrepreneurial business ethics: a special case or business as usual?," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(3), pages 241-252.
    5. Jan Lepoutre & Aimé Heene, 2006. "Investigating the Impact of Firm Size on Small Business Social Responsibility: A Critical Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 257-273, September.
    6. Johanna Gast & Matthias Filser & Katherine Gundolf & Sascha Kraus, 2015. "Coopetition research: towards a better understanding of past trends and future directions," Post-Print hal-02945435, HAL.
    7. Zhang, Zhen & Arvey, Richard D., 2009. "Rule breaking in adolescence and entrepreneurial status: An empirical investigation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 436-447, September.
    8. Harris, Jared D. & Sapienza, Harry J. & Bowie, Norman E., 2009. "Ethics and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 407-418, September.
    9. Isabel Diez-Vial & Angeles Montoro-Sanchez, 2017. "Research evolution in science parks and incubators: foundations and new trends," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1243-1272, March.
    10. Laengle, Sigifredo & Merigó, José M. & Miranda, Jaime & Słowiński, Roman & Bomze, Immanuel & Borgonovo, Emanuele & Dyson, Robert G. & Oliveira, José Fernando & Teunter, Ruud, 2017. "Forty years of the European Journal of Operational Research: A bibliometric overview," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(3), pages 803-816.
    11. Jocelyn Sackey & Ylva Fältholm & Håkan Ylinenpää, 2013. "Working With Or Against The System: Ethical Dilemmas For Entrepreneurship In Ghana," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(01), pages 1-18.
    12. Ted Fuller & Yumiao Tian, 2006. "Social and Symbolic Capital and Responsible Entrepreneurship: An Empirical Investigation of SME Narratives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 287-304, September.
    13. Gideon D. Markman & Michael Russo & G. T. Lumpkin & P. Devereaux (Dev) Jennings & Johanna Mair, 2016. "Entrepreneurship as a Platform for Pursuing Multiple Goals: A Special Issue on Sustainability, Ethics, and Entrepreneurship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 673-694, July.
    14. Pascal Dey & Chris Steyaert, 2016. "Rethinking the Space of Ethics in Social Entrepreneurship: Power, Subjectivity, and Practices of Freedom," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 627-641, February.
    15. Wood, Van R. & Bhuian, Shahid & Kiecker, Pamela, 2000. "Market Orientation and Organizational Performance in Not-for-Profit Hospitals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 213-226, June.
    16. Massimiliano Pellegrini & Cristiano Ciappei, 2015. "Ethical Judgment and Radical Business Changes: The Role of Entrepreneurial Perspicacity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(4), pages 769-788, June.
    17. Johanna Gast & Matthias Filser & Katherine Gundolf & Sascha Kraus, 2015. "Coopetition research: towards a better understanding of past trends and future directions," Post-Print hal-02010684, HAL.
    18. Anokhin, Sergey & Schulze, William S., 2009. "Entrepreneurship, innovation, and corruption," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 465-476, September.
    19. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    20. Elizabeth Chell & Laura J. Spence & Francesco Perrini & Jared D. Harris, 2016. "Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics: Does Social Equal Ethical?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 619-625, February.
    21. Johanna Gast & Matthias Filser & Katherine Gundolf & Sascha Kraus, 2015. "Coopetition research: towards a better understanding of past trends and future directions," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 24(4), pages 492-521.
    22. Rey-Martí, Andrea & Ribeiro-Soriano, Domingo & Palacios-Marqués, Daniel, 2016. "A bibliometric analysis of social entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1651-1655.
    23. Sascha Kraus & Janina Burtscher & Christine Vallaster & Martin Angerer, 2018. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship Orientation: A Reflection on Status-Quo Research on Factors Facilitating Responsible Managerial Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    24. Brenkert, George G., 2009. "Innovation, rule breaking and the ethics of entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 448-464, September.
    25. John Elkington, 2006. "Governance for Sustainability," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(6), pages 522-529, November.
    26. Smith, Wendy K. & Gonin, Michael & Besharov, Marya L., 2013. "Managing Social-Business Tensions: A Review and Research Agenda for Social Enterprise," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 407-442, July.
    27. Noor Ahmad & T. Ramayah, 2012. "Does the Notion of ‘Doing Well by Doing Good’ Prevail Among Entrepreneurial Ventures in a Developing Nation?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(4), pages 479-490, April.
    28. Richard Arend, 2013. "Ethics-focused dynamic capabilities: a small business perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 1-24, June.
    29. Douglas Cumming & Wenxuan Hou & Edward Lee, 2016. "Sustainable and Ethical Entrepreneurship, Corporate Finance and Governance, and Institutional Reform in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(4), pages 505-508, April.
    30. Cliff, Jennifer E. & Jennings, P. Devereaux & Greenwood, Royston, 2006. "New to the game and questioning the rules: The experiences and beliefs of founders who start imitative versus innovative firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 633-663, September.
    31. Yunxia Zhu, 2015. "The Role of Qing (Positive Emotions) and Li 1 (Rationality) in Chinese Entrepreneurial Decision Making: A Confucian Ren-Yi Wisdom Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(4), pages 613-630, February.
    32. Drover, Will & Wood, Matthew S. & Fassin, Yves, 2014. "Take the money or run? Investors' ethical reputation and entrepreneurs' willingness to partner," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 723-740.
    33. Weerawardena, Jay & Mort, Gillian Sullivan, 2006. "Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 21-35, February.
    34. David Robinson & Per Davidsson & Hennie Mescht & Philip Court, 2007. "How Entrepreneurs Deal with Ethical Challenges – An Application of the Business Ethics Synergy Star Technique," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(4), pages 411-423, April.
    35. Robert Baron & Hao Zhao & Qing Miao, 2015. "Personal Motives, Moral Disengagement, and Unethical Decisions by Entrepreneurs: Cognitive Mechanisms on the “Slippery Slope”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 107-118, April.
    36. Geert Hofstede & Cheryl A Van Deusen & Carolyn B Mueller & Thomas A Charles, 2002. "What Goals Do Business Leaders Pursue? A Study in Fifteen Countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(4), pages 785-803, December.
    37. Dinah Payne & Brenda Joyner, 2006. "Successful U.S. Entrepreneurs: Identifying Ethical Decision-making and Social Responsibility Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 203-217, May.
    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. Patricio Osorio-Vega, 2019. "The Ethics of Entrepreneurial Shared Value," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 981-995, July.
    2. Harris, Jared D. & Sapienza, Harry J. & Bowie, Norman E., 2009. "Ethics and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 407-418, September.
    3. Pradeep Kumar Hota, 2023. "Tracing the Intellectual Evolution of Social Entrepreneurship Research: Past Advances, Current Trends, and Future Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 637-659, January.
    4. Paola Bernardi & Alberto Bertello & Canio Forliano & Ludovico Bullini Orlandi, 2022. "Beyond the “ivory tower”. Comparing academic and non-academic knowledge on social entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 999-1032, September.
    5. Pradeep Kumar Hota & Balaji Subramanian & Gopalakrishnan Narayanamurthy, 2020. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Social Entrepreneurship Research: A Citation/Co-citation Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 89-114, September.
    6. Vasilis Theoharakis & Seraphim Voliotis & Jeffrey M. Pollack, 2021. "Going Down the Slippery Slope of Legitimacy Lies in Early-Stage Ventures: The Role of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 673-690, September.
    7. Hota, Pradeep Kumar & Bhatt, Babita & Qureshi, Israr, 2023. "Institutional work to navigate ethical dilemmas: Evidence from a social enterprise," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1).
    8. Gustav Hägg & Vera Haataja & Agnieszka Kurczewska & Alexander McKelvie, 2024. "Entrepreneurial Responsibility: A Conceptual Framework to Understand Ethical Dualism Throughout the Entrepreneurial Process," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(4), pages 1110-1126, July.
    9. Robin Stevens & Nathalie Moray & Johan Bruneel, 2015. "The Social and Economic Mission of Social Enterprises: Dimensions, Measurement, Validation, and Relation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(5), pages 1051-1082, September.
    10. João J. Ferreira & Cristina I. Fernandes & Marta Peres-Ortiz & Helena Alves, 2017. "Conceptualizing social entrepreneurship: perspectives from the literature," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 14(1), pages 73-93, March.
    11. Adélie Ranville & Marcos Barros, 2022. "Towards Normative Theories of Social Entrepreneurship. A Review of the Top Publications of the Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 407-438, October.
    12. Maria Margarida Avillez & Andrew Greenman & Susan Marlow, 2020. "Ethical Judgments About Social Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Influence of Spatio-Cultural Meanings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 877-892, February.
    13. Karanda, Crispen & Toledano, Nuria, 2018. "The promotion of ethical entrepreneurship in the Third World: Exploring realities and complexities from an embedded perspective," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(6), pages 881-890.
    14. Gupta, Parul & Chauhan, Sumedha & Paul, Justin & Jaiswal, M.P., 2020. "Social entrepreneurship research: A review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 209-229.
    15. Ratan J. S. Dheer, 2017. "Cross-national differences in entrepreneurial activity: role of culture and institutional factors," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 813-842, April.
    16. Filipa Lancastre & Carmen Lages & Filipe Santos, 2024. "Social Entrepreneurship as a Family Resemblance Concept with Distinct Ethical Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 611-632, May.
    17. Rose Bote & Tao Wang & Corine Genet, 2024. "You Say Social Agenda, I Say My Job: Navigating Moral Ambiguities by Frontline Workers in a Social Enterprise," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(2), pages 225-241, June.
    18. Mohammad Daradkeh, 2023. "Navigating the Complexity of Entrepreneurial Ethics: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-30, July.
    19. Gali, Nazha & Niemand, Thomas & Shaw, Eleanor & Hughes, Mathew & Kraus, Sascha & Brem, Alexander, 2020. "Social entrepreneurship orientation and company success: The mediating role of social performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    20. David J. Scheaf & Matthew S. Wood, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Fraud: A Multidisciplinary Review and Synthesized Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 607-642, May.

    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:eee:jbrese:v:99:y:2019:i:c:p:226-237. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    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.