Entrepreneurship as an academic discipline often appears to have a split personality. On one side it is practical and vocational, rooted in business school curricula that teach students the skills needed to start and run firms. On the other, it is an evolving field of scholarly research that seeks to understand the behaviors, institutions, and market forces that shape entrepreneurial activity.
The practical side resembles a “How to Start a Business” course: hands-on training in idea generation, market research, product development, and business planning. Undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs typically emphasize applied skills—drafting business plans, pitching to investors, testing market assumptions, and launching ventures both inside and outside the classroom. Most students enroll with the expectation of learning how to become their own bosses, and contemporary programs generally meet those expectations by focusing on experiential learning and real-world practice.
By contrast, entrepreneurship as a research discipline asks different questions. Rather than prescribing step-by-step recipes for startup success, theorists study how entrepreneurs differ from others, what makes an activity entrepreneurial, and what effects entrepreneurship has on markets and society. Theoretical work is empirical and conceptual, aiming to explain patterns of innovation, the origins of new industries, and the broader economic consequences of entrepreneurial action.
A Multifaceted Theory
The intellectual roots of entrepreneurship theory reach back to early economic thinkers such as Richard Cantillon in the 18th century, yet the theoretical literature remains relatively young and fragmented. Historically, scholars borrowed frameworks from adjacent fields: economics, psychology, management, and sociology have all left their mark. Before World War II entrepreneurship was more comfortably nested in economics, but mainstream economic models often struggle with the creative, uncertain nature of entrepreneurial discovery. Psychologists focus on traits, cognition, and decision-making; sociologists examine networks and institutional contexts; management scholars explore organization and strategy.
One productive way to view the field is as the intersection between psychology and economics. It is less about general psychological processes and more about the psychology of risk-taking, ambition, and the drive to create. It is less about classical equilibrium economics and more about the processes that shift supply, create demand, and disrupt established markets. Entrepreneurs—whether driven by innovation, necessity, or opportunity—challenge the status quo and can generate far-reaching economic change.
Examples are abundant. Henry Ford’s introduction of the Model T in 1908 reshaped mobility and manufacturing, while the launch of Facebook in 2004 dramatically altered how billions of people communicate and organize social life. By the end of 2016, Facebook reached approximately 1.86 billion monthly active users, illustrating how a single venture can scale to influence global behavior and markets.
Connecting Practice and Theory
In teaching entrepreneurship, I emphasize connecting each practical action—market analysis, product design, financing, and business planning—to the broader context in which it occurs. Entrepreneurship is embedded in specific economic, institutional, and social settings. Students who learn to interpret those settings develop better judgment, avoid common mistakes, and detect faulty assumptions before they lead to failure. Understanding market dynamics is a prerequisite for robust business decision-making.
My book, The Seen, the Unseen, and the Unrealized, explores how entrepreneurial dynamics operate within market economies and highlights the indirect consequences of policies and regulations that business people often overlook. When practice and theory inform one another, entrepreneurs create stronger business plans that are realistic about the environment in which a venture will operate. Conversely, plans that ignore institutional and social context are prone to avoidable errors.
Bringing together practical skill-building and sound theoretical insight improves the odds of producing successful entrepreneurs. This integrated approach not only prepares individuals to start and scale businesses but also benefits society by fostering ventures that contribute to economic growth and rising standards of living. While the discipline still has work to do, progress in teaching and researching entrepreneurship moves us closer to that goal.
Per Bylund is Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Records-Johnston Professor of Free Enterprise in the School of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. His research focuses on entrepreneurship, management, and economic organization. Connect with him on social media or through his professional profile.