Intensifying research on the dark side of entrepreneurship

From the introduction: For as long as we can remember, entrepreneurship has been regarded as the epitome of economic opportunity and wealth creation (Schumpeter, 1942). As Green et al. (2008) poetically put it, entrepreneurs have for decades been “seen as almost having a magical effect on economies – alchemists, whose innovatory capacity allows for water to be turned into wine, lead into gold. Equally, they appear omnipotent: able to create markets, shape markets, and, ultimately, destroy markets. En route, they provide jobs, offer new products and services, and introduce productivity gains.” While Green et al.’s assessment may be exaggerated, even hyperbolic, it conveys an important message: we tend to take for granted that entrepreneurship is inherently positive (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000), leading to the belief that ‘the more, the merrier’ (Weiskopf and Steyaert, 2009). Green et al.’s statement is predicated on the axiological claim that entrepreneurship is desirable because it ensures prosperity by serving as the ‘engine of economic progress’ (Cohen and Musson, 2000). Importantly, the aura of positivity surrounding entrepreneurship is not caused solely by its purported economic benefits. Although entrepreneurship was historically more of a ‘fringe phenomenon’ related largely to the provision of innovative products and services (Eberhart et al., 2025), its positive influence has recently been
associated with various non-economic phenomena such as urban space, public bureaucracy, artistic endeavours, and, more recently, grand challenges such as poverty, or climate change (Dey, 2016).