IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/inschp/978-3-319-26692-3_3.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

This Thing Called “Theory”

In: Researching Entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • Per Davidsson

    (Queensland University of Technology
    Jönköping International Business School)

Abstract

How and why can theory help us understand entrepreneurial phenomena? The contemplative nature of theory may seem antithetical to the bold action associated with entrepreneurship. Theory is important in research because it is the abstracted and reflected sensemaking of theory that makes empirical observations meaningful. However, an exaggerated focus on “theoretical contributions” can also hamper the development of a scholarly field. This chapter discusses what theory is and is not, its various roles in the research process, and the pros and cons of focusing on theory. The specific requirements on theoretical tools suitable for the study of entrepreneurship are also considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Per Davidsson, 2016. "This Thing Called “Theory”," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: Researching Entrepreneurship, edition 2, chapter 3, pages 41-73, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:inschp:978-3-319-26692-3_3
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-26692-3_3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Per Davidsson & Scott Gordon, 2012. "Panel studies of new venture creation: a methods-focused review and suggestions for future research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 853-876, November.
    2. Carr, Jon C. & Sequeira, Jennifer M., 2007. "Prior family business exposure as intergenerational influence and entrepreneurial intent: A Theory of Planned Behavior approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 1090-1098, October.
    3. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 2009. "The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1411-1431, December.
    4. Reynolds, Paul D. & Curtin, Richard T., 2008. "Business Creation in the United States: Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II Initial Assessment," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 4(3), pages 155-307, January.
    5. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    6. Gregory G. Dess & G. T. Lumpkin & J. G. Covin, 1997. "Entrepreneurial strategy making and firm performance: tests of contingency and configurational models," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(9), pages 677-695, October.
    7. Davidsson, Per & Wiklund, Johan, 1997. "Values, beliefs and regional variations in new firm formation rates," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 179-199, April.
    8. Zahra, Shaker A., 2007. "Contextualizing theory building in entrepreneurship research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 443-452, May.
    9. Armstrong, J. Scott, 1970. "How to avoid exploratory research," MPRA Paper 81666, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Alexander McKelvie & Johan Wiklund, 2010. "Advancing Firm Growth Research: A Focus on Growth Mode Instead of Growth Rate," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(2), pages 261-288, March.
    11. Andy Lockett & Johan Wiklund & Per Davidsson & Sourafel Girma, 2011. "Organic and Acquisitive Growth: Re‐examining, Testing and Extending Penrose's Growth Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 48-74, January.
    12. Stuetzer, Michael & Obschonka, Martin & Audretsch, David B. & Wyrwich, Michael & Rentfrow, Peter J. & Coombes, Mike & Shaw-Taylor, Leigh & Satchell, Max, 2016. "Industry structure, entrepreneurship, and culture: An empirical analysis using historical coalfields," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 52-72.
    13. Alain Fayolle & Mike Wright, 2014. "How To Get Published In The Best Entrepreneurship Journals," Post-Print hal-01892774, HAL.
    14. Davidsson, Per & Achtenhagen, Leona & Naldi, Lucia, 2010. "Small Firm Growth," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 6(2), pages 69-166, May.
    15. Wiklund, Johan & Shepherd, Dean, 2005. "Entrepreneurial orientation and small business performance: a configurational approach," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-91, January.
    16. Davidsson, Per, 1991. "Continued entrepreneurship: Ability, need, and opportunity as determinants of small firm growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 405-429, November.
    17. Dean Shepherd & Johan Wiklund, 2009. "Are we Comparing Apples with Apples or Apples with Oranges? Appropriateness of Knowledge Accumulation across Growth Studies," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(1), pages 105-123, January.
    18. Davidsson, Per & Wahlund, Richard, 1992. "A note on the failure to use negative information," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 343-353, June.
    19. Paul Steffens & Siri Terjesen & Per Davidsson, 2012. "Birds of a feather get lost together: new venture team composition and performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 727-743, October.
    20. Alain Fayolle & Mike Wright, 2014. "How To Get Published In The Best Entrepreneurship Journals : A Guide to Steer Your Academic Career," Post-Print hal-02298195, HAL.
    21. Sara Carter, 2011. "The Rewards of Entrepreneurship: Exploring the Incomes, Wealth, and Economic Well–Being of Entrepreneurial Households," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 39-55, January.
    22. Martin Obschonka & Michael Stuetzer & Samuel D Gosling & Peter J Rentfrow & Michael E Lamb & Jeff Potter & David B Audretsch, 2015. "Entrepreneurial Regions: Do Macro-Psychological Cultural Characteristics of Regions Help Solve the “Knowledge Paradox” of Economics?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    23. Obschonka, Martin & Stuetzer, Michael & Gosling, Samuel D. & Rentfrow, Peter J. & Lamb, Michael E. & Potter, Jeff & Audretsch, David B., 2015. "Entrepreneurial Regions: Do Macro-psychological Cultural Characteristics of Regions help solve the “Knowledge Paradox” of Economics?," MPRA Paper 65323, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. KruegerJR, Norris F. & Reilly, Michael D. & Carsrud, Alan L., 2000. "Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 411-432.
    25. Marwell, Gerald & Ames, Ruth E., 1981. "Economists free ride, does anyone else? : Experiments on the provision of public goods, IV," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 295-310, June.
    26. Davidsson, Per, 2006. "Nascent Entrepreneurship: Empirical Studies and Developments," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 2(1), pages 1-76, June.
    27. Saras D. Sarasvathy & Sankaran Venkataraman, 2011. "Entrepreneurship as Method: Open Questions for an Entrepreneurial Future," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 113-135, January.
    28. Chandler, Gaylen N. & McKelvie, Alexander & Davidsson, Per, 2009. "Asset specificity and behavioral uncertainty as moderators of the sales growth -- Employment growth relationship in emerging ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 373-387, July.
    29. C. Chet Miller & Nathan T. Washburn & William H. Glick, 2013. "PERSPECTIVE—The Myth of Firm Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 948-964, June.
    30. Johan Wiklund & Holger Patzelt & Dean Shepherd, 2009. "Building an integrative model of small business growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 351-374, April.
    31. Johan Wiklund & Per Davidsson & David B. Audretsch & Charlie Karlsson, 2011. "The Future of Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 1-9, January.
    32. Shaker A. Zahra & Harry J. Sapienza & Per Davidsson, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Capabilities: A Review, Model and Research Agenda," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 917-955, June.
    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. Alexander McKelvie & Anna Brattström & Karl Wennberg, 2017. "How young firms achieve growth: reconciling the roles of growth motivation and innovative activities," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 273-293, August.
    2. Michael Stuetzer & David B. Audretsch & Martin Obschonka & Samuel D. Gosling & Peter J. Rentfrow & Jeff Potter, 2018. "Entrepreneurship culture, knowledge spillovers and the growth of regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 608-618, May.
    3. Randerson, Kathleen & Bettinelli, Cristina & Fayolle, Alain & Anderson, Alistair, 2015. "Family entrepreneurship as a field of research: Exploring its contours and contents," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 143-154.
    4. Cyron, Thomas & Zoellick, Jan Cornelius, 2018. "Business Development in Post-Growth Economies: Challenging Assumptions in the Existing Business Growth Literature," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 29(3), pages 206-229.
    5. Edelman, Linda F. & Manolova, Tatiana & Shirokova, Galina & Tsukanova, Tatyana, 2016. "The impact of family support on young entrepreneurs' start-up activities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 428-448.
    6. Crawford, G. Christopher & Aguinis, Herman & Lichtenstein, Benyamin & Davidsson, Per & McKelvey, Bill, 2015. "Power law distributions in entrepreneurship: Implications for theory and research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 696-713.
    7. Simon C. Parker & Thomas Åstebro & David B Audretsch & Robert Blackburn & Andrew Burke & Alex Coad & Marc Cowling & Per Davidsson & Michael Fritsch & Francis Greene & Paul D. Reynolds & Roy Thurik, 2024. "“Remembering David J Storey, a pioneer of the entrepreneurship field”," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 1-21, January.
    8. Martin Obschonka & Mingjie Zhou & Yixin Zhou & Jianxin Zhang & Rainer K. Silbereisen, 2019. "“Confucian” traits, entrepreneurial personality, and entrepreneurship in China: a regional analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 961-979, December.
    9. Michael Wyrwich & Michael Stuetzer & Rolf Sternberg, 2016. "Entrepreneurial role models, fear of failure, and institutional approval of entrepreneurship: a tale of two regions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 467-492, March.
    10. Obschonka, Martin & Lee, Neil & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Eichstaedt, johannes Christopher & Ebert, Tobias, 2018. "Big Data, artificial intelligence and the geography of entrepreneurship in the United States," OSF Preprints c62tn, Center for Open Science.
    11. Mitja Ruzzier & Evan J. Douglas & Maja Konečnik Ruzzier & Jana Hojnik, 2020. "International Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Intention to Internationalize," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    12. Peter van der Zwan & Ingrid Verheul & Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Progress: Climbing the Entrepreneurial Ladder in Europe and the US," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-070/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 17 Mar 2010.
    13. Anthony Igwe & Anastasia Ogbo & Emmanuel Agbaeze & James Abugu & Charity Ezenwakwelu & Henry Okwo, 2020. "Self-Efficacy and Subjective Norms as Moderators in the Networking Competence–Social Entrepreneurial Intentions Link," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, July.
    14. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson & Martin Obschonka, 2018. "Human behaviour and economic growth: A psychocultural perspective on local and regional development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(6), pages 1269-1289, September.
    15. Douglas, Evan J. & Shepherd, Dean A. & Prentice, Catherine, 2020. "Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis for a finer-grained understanding of entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1).
    16. Emilio Pindado & Mercedes Sánchez, 2017. "Researching the entrepreneurial behaviour of new and existing ventures in European agriculture," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 421-444, August.
    17. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2014. "The Economic Contribution of High-Growth Firms: Do Policy Implications Depend on the Choice of Growth Indicator?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 337-365, September.
    18. Watson, John & Stuetzer, Michael & Zolin, Roxanne, 2017. "Female underperformance or goal-oriented behavior?," MPRA Paper 88403, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Kim Hoe Looi, 2020. "Contextual Motivations for Undergraduates’ Entrepreneurial Intentions in Emerging Asian Economies," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 29(1), pages 53-87, March.
    20. Tarja Niemelä & Reija Häkkinen, 2014. "The Role of Pluriactivity for Continuity and Survival in Family Farm Firms," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 10(4), pages 7-43.

    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:spr:inschp:978-3-319-26692-3_3. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.