Entrepreneurship research: Where are we and where should we be going?

Abstract

In this paper attention is firstly given to the role of entrepreneurship in society. This is followed by a brief look at the definitions of entrepreneurship used in the American literature. An attempt is then made to summarize the findings of studies done in the Western world on the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs. The focus of the paper then moves to the biographical characteristics of entrepreneurs. Finally, comments are made on the nature of past research, as reviewed in this paper, and directions for further research. The authors do not think that it is possible to cover the whole field of entrepreneurship throughout the world in one paper. It also proved impossible to cover any related field. Intrapreneurshlp, a concept made popular by Peters & Waterman (1983), is, for instance, essentially excluded from the present analysts.

Notes

Financial assistance rendered to this research by the Institute of Research Development is hereby gratefully acknowledged. Opinions expressed in this paper and conclusions reached are those of the authors and must not necessarily be attributed to the Institute for Research Development or the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa.

Graduate School of Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria

Department of Psychology, University of Natal, King George V Avenue, Durban