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Entrepreneurship - Methodische Herausforderungen einer jungen Forschungsdisziplin
[Entrepreneurship - Methodological challenges of a young research discipline]

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  • Schuster, Charlotte Leonie

Abstract

Even if today's successful companies operating in the market were start-ups at some time, so far, no consensus could be found, if entrepreneurship is to be understood as an independent research discipline. Should entrepreneurship have its own theory based on generally accepted assumptions and constructs or should the field of research rather convince with an integrated perception and interfaces to many related disciplines? The terminological and conceptual difficulties come along with methodological challenges. In addition, data bases in entrepreneurship are often small and difficult to access and therefore restrict the choice of analytical methods. Which methodological problems must be addressed and what opportunities and prospects arise for empirical entrepreneurship research? Based on a literature review and an outline of the state of research, it will be discussed whether entrepreneurship could be established as an independent research discipline. Moreover, the use of data analysis methods to study entrepreneurship are surveyed to stress occuring problems and draw implications for the future of entrepreneurship research, as well as for the practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Schuster, Charlotte Leonie, 2013. "Entrepreneurship - Methodische Herausforderungen einer jungen Forschungsdisziplin [Entrepreneurship - Methodological challenges of a young research discipline]," MPRA Paper 45472, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:45472
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship Orientation; Research methods; Research discipline; data analytic trends; research design; methodological issues; methodological challenges; theory building; cross-disciplinary review;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • M2 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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