Why entrepreneurship overlooks structural injustice: Biases, blind spots & paradigmatic assumptions

Entrepreneurship is often associated with positive attributes such as innovation and economic growth. In recent years, however, researchers and practitioners have increasingly recognized the "dark sides" of entrepreneurship. Despite the growing recognition of the negative impacts of entrepreneurship, the concept of structural injustice has been largely overlooked in the field. Structural injustice refers to deeply ingrained and systemic forms of inequality that disproportionately affect marginalized groups. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by examining the role of entrepreneurship in perpetuating and mitigating structural injustice. Our hypothesis is that five paradigmatic assumptions prevalent in the entrepreneurship community, as well as a lack of appropriate tools, methods, and curricula, contribute to this omission. To address this issue, we propose three corrective actions. First, we propose strengthening critical thinking skills in entrepreneurship education by encouraging students to critically examine the assumptions and values underlying entrepreneurship and the potential indirect consequences of their actions. Second, we recommend that entrepreneurship research take a more holistic view by applying different research methods, promoting multidisciplinarity, and considering the potential consequences of innovation and entrepreneurial activities in funding programs and measuring firm-level success. Finally, we suggest reconsidering the role of prosocial entrepreneurship, which is currently viewed as a panacea for solving today’s most pressing ills. Overall, this paper represents an important first step in incorporating structural injustice into the discourse on entrepreneurship.