On The Role Of Entrepreneurship In Society

Our understanding of entrepreneurship has traditionally been formulated under the lens of individual streams of literature, i.e., economics, psychology, sociology, and our understanding of the role of the entrepreneur in society has depended on the scale of magnification one chooses to view society. As we rapidly approach the third millennium, venturing further into the information economy and distancing ourselves from the production economy, major changes are occurring in society. Managing change, of course, is nothing new to the entrepreneur who has survived many changes over many centuries. This paper briefly reviews how entrepreneurship has been treated by some authors in three traditional streams of literature - economics, psychology, and sociology. Characteristics of the changing society are noted and it is suggested that each stream, alone, is not sufficient to understand the role of the entrepreneur beyond 2000. The conclusion offers suggestions for effective policy-making including: more interdisciplinary collaboration - bringing together knowledge specialists and knowledge integrators, more sharing of information, establishing research agendas, and private/public sector partnerships in research.