ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the key ideas in entrepreneurship theory from Schumpeter to recent debates about the status of effectuation as a theory of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial learning has also increased in importance among the academic research community. Lamont authored the first paper explicitly focusing on the topic of entrepreneurial learning and there was a rapid increase in the number of publications from 2000 onwards. However, research on traits has been inconclusive and, in contrast, many scholars have focused on the ambiguity and complexity associated with firm emergence. In addition to advances in the theoretical understanding of entrepreneurship which are discussed below there have been some very important empirical studies. The work of Penrose and Gartner provides the foundation for the so-called ‘narrative turn’ in entrepreneurial studies. Starr and Fondas utilize theories of organizational socialization to illuminate the role of entrepreneurs in emerging organizations.
