Innovation and Entrepreneurship Studies: One or Two Fields of Research?
Author
Editor
- Carla Vivas
- Fernando Lucas
Summary, in English
Innovation and industrial dynamics have grown in importance over the last 40-50 years as we have moved towards a more knowledge intensive society. In an effort to understand these developments in society new research fields have emerged such as innovation and entrepreneurship studies. In general, these two research fields are regarded as rather closely interlinked. In this study we elaborate on the question: Should innovation and entrepreneurship be seen as one or two fields of research? We have taken a cognitive approach in which we analyze the knowledge platforms in innovation and entrepreneurship studies.
We use a methodology in which we have built a unique database consisting of all references in twelve “state-of-the-art” books in entrepreneurship. The chapters in these “state-of-the-art” books are written by experts within the field, and it can be assumed that the most frequently cited references in these chapters represent “core knowledge” in entrepreneurship research. We have analyzed the references cited in these chapters in order to identify core contributors and core works within entrepreneurship research. In addition, we have compared our results with a similar study conducted by Fagerberg et al. (2012) on the knowledge basis in the field of innovation studies.
The study shows that we are talking about two more or less separate fields of research. Despite common roots in Schumpeter and some interrelated works, the two fields seem to have drifted apart over the last decades. However, there seems to be some elements of overlaps, for example, in the interest in the evolutionary approaches, and in the interest in topics such as innovation management (corporate entrepreneurship) and in technology-based ventures.
We use a methodology in which we have built a unique database consisting of all references in twelve “state-of-the-art” books in entrepreneurship. The chapters in these “state-of-the-art” books are written by experts within the field, and it can be assumed that the most frequently cited references in these chapters represent “core knowledge” in entrepreneurship research. We have analyzed the references cited in these chapters in order to identify core contributors and core works within entrepreneurship research. In addition, we have compared our results with a similar study conducted by Fagerberg et al. (2012) on the knowledge basis in the field of innovation studies.
The study shows that we are talking about two more or less separate fields of research. Despite common roots in Schumpeter and some interrelated works, the two fields seem to have drifted apart over the last decades. However, there seems to be some elements of overlaps, for example, in the interest in the evolutionary approaches, and in the interest in topics such as innovation management (corporate entrepreneurship) and in technology-based ventures.
Department/s
Publishing year
2012
Language
English
Pages
420-429
Publication/Series
Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Volume
7
Full text
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Document type
Conference paper
Publisher
Escola Superior de Gestão e Tecnologia, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém Portugal
Topic
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
- Information Studies
Keywords
- Innovation studies
- entrepreneurship studies
- new research fields
- knowledge base
Conference name
The 7th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship ECIE 2012
Conference date
2012-09-20 - 2012-09-21
Conference place
Santarem, Portugal
Status
Published
Project
- Visualizing Research Areas
Research group
- Information Studies