The entrepreneurship discourse: Outlined from diverse constructions of entrepreneurship at the academic scene

The interest in entrepreneurship seems to be escalating, emanating from the industry sphere and Schumpeter's thesis on economic development until today's discussions on opportunities (e.g. Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). In general, entrepreneurship is held forward as the model irrespective of what diverse problems that are addressed. In this vein entrepreneurship has disseminated into other spheres such as the public (Edwards, Jones, Lawton and Llewellyn, 2002), the private (du Gay, 1999), and the educational (Eyal and Inbar, 2003). Irrespective of which sphere that is under scrutiny, economic growth and development seem to be an inherent assumption with regards to entrepreneurship and is consequently the dominant reason of studying it (Ahl, 2002; Ogbor, 2000), although there is little known about how new businesses influence economic performance (Wennekers and Thurik, 1999). However, nowadays there are voices proclaiming that entrepreneurship research should bring forward new perspectives of entrepreneurship (Steyaert and Hjorth, 2004; Jennings, Perren och Carter, 2005) and in the academic sphere other rationales are discernible. To mention a few are issues such as environmental concerns stressed (Albrecht, 2002; Pastakia, 1998), as well as social development (Duhl, 2000; Wallace, 1999; Leadbeater, 1997), and equality perspectives (Ahl, 2002; Bruni, Gherardi and Poggio, 2004). Somehow, there seems to be a kind of bewilderment, a mystification---or perhaps a latent conflict---regarding what basic assumptions we should attach to the concept 'entrepreneurship'. Most often change and development are, one way or another, ascribed to entrepreneurship. But there are different standpoints, be it silent, regarding as to whether economic, ecological, social and egalitarian dimensions should be given first priority in developing individuals, companies, regions, nations, or in a global perspective; the entire world.