ABSTRACT
This volume aims to provide insight into the role of context in the world of entrepreneurship. Even though context is a widely used and often mentioned aspect in studies of organizational and entrepreneurial life, its precise meaning and role often remain unspecified. In the current volume, we draw attention to the various meanings and roles, as well as the importance of context in entrepreneurship studies. In recent decades, a wide variety of scientific disciplines have started to pay increased attention to context. These include anthropology, archaeology, art history, geography, intellectual history, law, linguistics, literary criticism, philosophy, politics, psychology, sociology, and theology (Burke, 2002). Entrepreneurship research is no exception and, like so many other fields of science, has increasingly included the topic of context. For entrepreneurship, the importance of context goes beyond gaining understanding and avoiding mistakes. The reciprocal influence exercised by the entrepreneurial venture and its corresponding context is at the very heart of the entrepreneur as an agent of change.
