- Item type
- Study and report
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2024
- Note
The call for contextualized research in entrepreneurship is becoming ever louder among scholars. The main argument put forward is that the phenomenon of entrepreneurship is much more heterogeneous and diverse than most studies reflect. Although researchers already emphasized the importance of contextualized studies on entrepreneurship in the early 2000s, less has been done for 'effective' contextualization than many assume. So far, most studies that have looked at the role of context in entrepreneurship have analyzed only a few particular context factors in isolation, while other contextual dimensions have been almost completely neglected. Hereby, one of the most analyzed factors is individual institutional factors and their influence on entrepreneurial activity, especially in Western contexts. This dissertation seeks to address this shortcoming and examines contextual dimensions that have been under-researched to date in order to raise awareness that context goes beyond the 'common' understanding. More specifically, the three manuscripts as part of this cumulative dissertation explore the influence of under-researched contexts and contextual variables, such as time, institutional void contexts, and the active role of the researcher in contextualizing mainly Western-based knowledge built on the assumption of a homogenous understanding of entrepreneurship as a growth-aspiring activity. The findings of this research show that the under-researched dimensions of context examined in this dissertation have strong explanatory power for how and why entrepreneurship unfolds differently in different contexts. Therefore, this dissertation contributes to literature by reflecting and suggesting that it is essential to move beyond the current understanding of contextualization in entrepreneurship literature.
