ACHIEVING “CRITICAL MESS” IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP SCHOLARSHIP

Abstract

This chapter follows two previous chapters on the nature of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship scholarship that have been presented in this book series (Davidsson, 2003; Venkataraman, 1997). Both of these chapters are key works in the field, and they both provide critical contributions to our understanding of what entrepreneurship is, as a focus of scholarship, and how entrepreneurship should be studied. My intention for this chapter, therefore, is to offer some thoughts that, I believe, are complementary to the insights offered by my colleagues. My approach to considering the questions of “What is entrepreneurship?” and “How might entrepreneurship be studied?” is to offer some thoughts about the “community of practice” (Latour, 1987, 1999; Sargent, 1997; Wenger, 1998) that currently exists in the academic field of entrepreneurship, and to propose some suggestions for how academics might practice different ways of entrepreneurship scholarship. (This will beg the question of whether a “community of practice” can remain a community, if the practice, itself, changes).

Citation

Gartner, W.B. (2004), "ACHIEVING “CRITICAL MESS” IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP SCHOLARSHIP", Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth (Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 199-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1074-7540(04)07008-4