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Where Are the Innovative Entrepreneurs? Identifying Innovative Industries and Measuring Innovative Entrepreneurship

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  • Sarah A. Low
  • Andrew M. Isserman

Abstract

This article concentrates on a crucial technical aspect of regional entrepreneurship research: how do we measure the most innovative of entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurs most likely to create regional growth? Innovation is a crucial component of entrepreneurship; yet, the frequent use of entrepreneurship proxies that do not consider innovation motivated us to propose and develop an indicator of innovative entrepreneurship that is useful for studies of regions, counties, states, and metropolitan areas as well. We posit that a novel combination of start-ups in innovative industries and self-employed in innovative industries yields entrepreneurship indicators that incorporate three widely recognized functions of entrepreneurship, including innovation. We detect sharp contrasts between our innovative entrepreneurship indicators and widely used entrepreneurship proxies. Our analysis demonstrates that innovative entrepreneurship is a useful empirical concept and that ignoring innovation in entrepreneurship likely has produced misleading research results and policy implications about regional entrepreneurship, its determinants, and its role in regional economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah A. Low & Andrew M. Isserman, 2015. "Where Are the Innovative Entrepreneurs? Identifying Innovative Industries and Measuring Innovative Entrepreneurship," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 38(2), pages 171-201, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:38:y:2015:i:2:p:171-201
    DOI: 10.1177/0160017613484926
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    Cited by:

    1. Tessa Conroy & Sarah A. Low, 2022. "Opportunity, necessity, and no one in the middle: A closer look at small, rural, and female‐led entrepreneurship in the United States," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 162-196, March.
    2. Sergio A. Contreras & Andrew J. Greenlee, 2021. "Evaluating the effectiveness of ChileCompra's Entrepreneurship Centers policy," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 1262-1282, August.
    3. Petach, Luke & Weiler, Stephan & Conroy, Tessa, 2021. "It’s a wonderful loan: local financial composition, community banks, and economic resilience," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Sorin-George TOMA & Ştefan-Alexandru CATANĂ, 2021. "Innovative Entrepreneurship In The Business Of Electronics: The Case Of Samsung Company," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 18, pages 131-135, December.
    5. David Urbano & Sebastian Aparicio & David Audretsch, 2019. "Twenty-five years of research on institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth: what has been learned?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 21-49, June.
    6. Manzi-Puertas, Mario A. & Agirre-Aramburu, Izaskun & López-Pérez, Sain, 2024. "Navigating the student entrepreneurial journey: Dynamics and interplay of resourceful and innovative behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    7. Deller, Steven C. & Conroy, Tessa & Markeson, Bjorn, 2018. "Social capital, religion and small business activity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 365-381.
    8. Rodica Crudu, 2019. "The Role of Innovative Entrepreneurship in the Economic Development of EU Member Countries," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 15(1), pages 35-60.
    9. Mojca Svetek & Mateja Drnovsek, 2022. "Exploring the Effects of Types of Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 149-170, January.
    10. Zachary T. Keeler & Heather M. Stephens, 2023. "What matters for lagging regions? The role of self‐employment and industrial diversity in distressed areas," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 962-1001, December.
    11. Tessa Conroy & Sarah A. Low, 2022. "Entrepreneurship, Broadband, and Gender: Evidence from Establishment Births in Rural America," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 45(1), pages 3-35, January.
    12. Williams, Christopher & Tesfaye Hailemariam, Atsede & Allard, Gayle, 2022. "Exploring entrepreneurial innovation in Ethiopia," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).

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