Body of Knowledge in Theory of Entrepreneurial Empowerment of the Poor: An Extensive Scientometric Analysis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Development Department, Entrepreneurship Faculty, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Faculty of Entrepreneurship. University of Tehran. Tehran. Iran

3 Faculty of Economics, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.

4 Faculty Member, University of Tehran, Tehran. Iran

Abstract

Entrepreneurial empowerment is less regarded as a vital approach to sustainable poverty reduction. The literature defines entrepreneurial empowerment of the poor as either “empowering the poor for entrepreneurship” or “empowering the poor through entrepreneurship”. However, there is neither a comprehensive theoretical explanation nor a clear understanding about the body of knowledge on the entrepreneurial empowerment of the poor. This study, practical in the purpose and descriptive - documentary in data collection, aims to identify the body of certified knowledge on entrepreneurial empowerment of the poor in relation to its theoretical components. To do this, we first found three theoretical components based on the definitions in the literature: institutions, entrepreneurial agency, and outcomes. Then, we recognized the body of knowledge, by searching for keywords related to empowerment, entrepreneurship, poor and poverty in the WoS database through an extensive scientometric analysis over the period 1970-2019, using the CitNetExplorer software. Findings consisted of identifying bibliometric indices; introducing six knowledge clusters, including micro-finance, base-of-the-pyramid, entrepreneurial impetus, technology and infrastructure, organizing innovation and marketing of the poor's businesses, and female entrepreneurship. And accordingly, explaining the body of knowledge in relation to institutions and entrepreneurial agency. Besides, we researched in more general scientific databases to learn why some expected knowledge clusters were not discovered. Connecting the body of knowledge to the theoretical components identifies scientific and theoretical contributions.

Keywords

References

امامی، ا. (1398). «علل تاثیرگذار در انتقال قصد به عمل در خلق ارزش کارآفرینانه». توسعه کارآفرینی، 12(3)، 339-321.
یادگار، ن.؛ معماریانی، م.؛ عبدالرضا صدق‏آمیز (1393)، «قصد کارآفرینانه اجتماعی: اثر متقابل نگرش کارآفرینانه اجتماعی،امنیت مالی وسرمایه اجتماعی»،توسعه کارآفرینی،7(1)،152-133.
Al-Dajani, H., & Marlow, S. (2013). Empowerment and entrepreneurship: A theoretical framework, International journal of entrepreneurial behavior & research, 19(5), 503-524.
Al-Dajani, H., & Marlow, S. (2014). Empowerment, place and entrepreneurship. In T. Baker & F. Welter (Eds.). The Routledge companion to entrepreneurship (pp. 343-357). NY: Routledge.
Alvarez, S.A., & Barney, J.B. (2014). Entrepreneurial opportunities and poverty alleviation, Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 38(1), 159-184.
Anosike, P. (2018). Entrepreneurship education knowledge transfer in a conflict Sub-Saharan African context, Journal of small business and enterprise development, 25(4), 591-608.
Ashraf, M.M., Razzaque, M.A., Liaw, S.T., Ray, P.K., & Hasan, M.R. (2019). Social business as an entrepreneurship model in emerging economy, Management decision, 57(5), 1145-1161.
Asongu, S.A., & Tchamyou, V.S. (2016). The impact of entrepreneurship on knowledge economy in Africa, Journal of entrepreneurship in emerging economies, 8(1), 101-131.
Ayadi, S. (2016). Innovation at the Bottom of the Economic Pyramid: a bibliometric exercise, [mestrado em inovação e empreendedorismo technologico. Universidade do Porto]. https://repositorio-aberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/88480/2/167637.pdf.
Ayob, N., Teasdale, S., & Fagan, K. (2016). How social innovation ‘came to be’: Tracing the evolution of a contested concept, Journal of social policy, 45(4), 635-653.
Baker, T., & Nelson, R.E. (2005). Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage, Administrative science quarterly, 50(3), 329-366.
Bourdieu,P.(1990).The logic of practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford university press.
Bruton, G.D., Ahlstrom, D., & Si, S. (2015). Entrepreneurship, poverty, and Asia: Moving beyond subsistence entrepreneurship, Asia Pacific journal of management, 32(1), 1-22.
Bruton, G.D., Ketchen Jr, D.J., & Ireland, R.D. (2013). Entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty, Journal of business venturing, 28(6), 683-689.
Calton, J.M., Werhane, P.H., Hartman, L.P., & Bevan, D. (2013). Building partnerships to create social and economic value at the base of the global development pyramid, Journal of business ethics, 117(4), 721-733.
Cantu-Ortiz, F.J. (Ed.). (2017). Research analytics: Boosting university productivity and competitiveness through Scientometrics, CRC Press.
Chandra, Y., Jiang, L.C., & Wang, C J. (2016). Mining social entrepreneurship strategies using topic modeling, PloS one, 11(3), 1-28.
Chliova, M., Brinckmann, J., & Rosenbusch, N. (2015). Is microcredit a blessing for the poor? A meta-analysis examining development outcomes and contextual considerations, Journal of business venturing, 30(3), 467-487.
Chowdhury, F., Audretsch, D.B., & Belitski, M. (2019). Institutions and entrepreneurship quality, Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 43(1), 51-81.
De Clercq, D., & Honig, B. (2011). Entrepreneurship as an integrating mechanism for disadvantaged persons, Entrepreneurship & regional development, 23(5-6), 353-372.
Dembek, K., Singh, P., & Bhakoo, V. (2016). Literature review of shared value: A theoretical concept or a management buzzword?, Journal of business ethics, 137(2), 231–267. 
Dembek, K., Sivasubramaniam, N., & Chmielewski, D.A. (2020). A systematic review of the bottom/Base of the pyramid literature: Cumulative evidence and future directions, Journal of business ethics, 165, 365-382.
Doherty, B., Haugh, H., & Lyon, F. (2014). Social enterprises as hybrid organizations: A review and research agenda, International journal of management reviews, 16(4), 417-436.
Eichler, G.M., & Schwarz, E.J. (2020). What sustainable development goals do social innovations address? A systematic review and content analysis of social innovation literature, Sustainability, 11(2): 522, 1-18.
Farinha, L., Sebastião, J.R., Sampaio, C., & Lopes, J. (2020). Social innovation and social entrepreneurship: Discovering origins, exploring current and future -trends, International review on public and nonprofit marketing, 17, 77-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-020-00243-6.
Fischer, E.M., Reuber, A.R., & Dyke, L.S. (1993). A theoretical overview and extension of research on sex, gender, and entrepreneurship, Journal of business venturing, 8(2), 151-168.
Frese, M., Gielnik, M.M., & Mensmann, M. (2016), Psychological training for entrepreneurs to take action: Contributing to poverty reduction in developing countries, Current directions in psychological science, 25)3), 196–202.
George, G., Rao-Nicholson, R., Corbishley, C., & Bansal, R. (2015). Institutional entrepreneurship, governance, and poverty: Insights from emergency medical response services in India, Asia Pacific journal of management, 32(1), 39-65.
Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge: Polity press.
Goel, S., & Karri, R. (2020). Entrepreneurial aspirations and poverty reduction: The role of institutional context, Entrepreneurship & regional development, 32 (1-2), 91-111.
Gonçalves, C.P., Carrara, K., & Schmittel, R.M. (2016). The phenomenon of social enterprises: are we keeping watch on this cultural practice?, VOLUNTAS: International journal of voluntary and nonprofit organizations,27(4),1585-1610.
Gupta, S., Beninger, S., & Ganesh, J. (2015). A hybrid approach to innovation by social enterprises: Lessons from Africa, Social enterprise journal, 11(1), 89-112.
Gutiérrez-Nieto, B., & Serrano-Cinca, C. (2019). 20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach, International journal of information management, 47, 183-197.
Haugh, H.M., & O’Carroll, M. (2019). Empowerment, social innovation and social change. In Handbook of Inclusive Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Haugh, H.M. & Talwar, A. (2016). Linking social entrepreneurship and social change: The mediating role of empowerment, Journal of business ethics, 133, 643–658.
Hota, P.K., Subramanian, B., & Narayanamurthy, G. (2020). Mapping the intellectual structure of social entrepreneurship research: A citation/co-citation analysis, Journal of business ethics, 166, 89-114.
Jennings, J.E., Jennings, P.D., & Sharifian, M. (2016). Living the dream? Assessing the “entrepreneurship as emancipation” perspective in a developed region, Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 40(1), 81-110.
Jennings, D., Lounsbury, M., & Sharifian, M. (2015). Entrepreneurial agency and institutions. In T. Baker, & F. Welter (Eds.). Routledge companion to entrepreneurship. (pp. 358-375). NY: Routledge.
Jones, N.N. (2017). Rhetorical narratives of black entrepreneurs: The business of race, agency, and cultural empowerment, Journal of business and technical communication, 31(3), 319-349.
Kirubi, C., Jacobson, A., Kammen, D.M., & Mills, A. (2009). Community-based electric micro-grids can contribute to rural development: Evidence from Kenya, World development, 37(7), 1208-1221.
Krueger Jr, N.F., Reilly, M.D., & Carsrud, A.L. (2000). Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions, Journal of business venturing, 15(5-6), 411-432.
Kurode, T., &  Bhilare, M. (2020). Bibliometric review of sustainability of social enterprises, Our heritage, 68(1), 795-800.
Laine, K., Tynjälä, P., Eteläpelto, A., & Hämäläinen, R. (2019). Students’ self-reported learning outcomes after a business start-up education program, International journal of training research, 17(2), 98-115.
Lok, J. (2010). Institutional logics as identity projects, Academy of management journal, 53(6), 1305-1335.
Mair, J., & Marti, I. (2009). Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids: A case study from Bangladesh, Journal of business venturing, 24(5), 419–435.
Mayoux, L. (2001). Tackling the down side: Social capital, women’s empowerment and micro‐finance in Cameroon, Development and change, 32(3), 435-464.
McMullen, J.S., Ingram, K.M., & Adams, J. (2020). What makes an entrepreneurship study entrepreneurial? Toward a unified theory of entrepreneurial agency, Entrepreneurship theory & practice, 1-42. doi:10.1177/1042258720922460.
Morris, M.H., Santos, S.C., & Neumeyer, X. (2020). Entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty in developed economies, Business horizons, 63 (3), 377-390.
Pansera, M., & Owen, R. (2015). Framing resource-constrained innovation at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’: Insights from an ethnographic case study in rural Bangladesh, Technological forecasting and social change, 92, 300-311.
Porter, M., & Kramer, M. (2011). How to fix capitalism- Unleashing a new wave to growth, Harvard business review, 89 (1), 1-18.
Prahalad, C.K., & Hart, S.L. (2002). The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, Strategy+Business, 26(2002), 54-67.
Rindova, V., Barry, D., & Ketchen Jr, D.J. (2009), Entrepreneuring as emancipation, Academy of management review, 34(3), 477-491.
Salas, S., Ojha, S.N., Ramasubramanian, V., Vipinkumar, V.P., & Ananthan, P.S. (2017). Entrepreneurship based empowerment among fisherwomen self-help groups of Kerala, Indian journal of fisheries, 64(4), 106-111.
Santos, S.C., Neumeyer, X., & Morris, M.H. (2019). Entrepreneurship education in a poverty context: An empowerment perspective, Journal of small business management, 57, 6-32.
Sassmannshausen, S.P., & Volkmann, C. (2018). The scientometrics of social entrepreneurship and its establishment as an academic field, Journal of small business management, 56(2), 251-273.
Seelos, C., & Mair, J. (2005). Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor, Business horizons, 48(3), 241-246.
Si, S., Ahlstrom, D., Wei, J., & Cullen, J. (2020). Business, entrepreneurship and innovation toward poverty reduction, Entrepreneurship & regional development, 32(1-2), 1-20.
Silveira, F.F., & Zilber, S.N. (2017). Is social innovation about innovation? A bibliometric study identifying the main authors, citations and co-citations over 20 years, International journal of entrepreneurship and innovation management, 21(6), 459-484.
Sutter, C., Bruton, G.D., & Chen, J. (2019). Entrepreneurship as a solution to extreme poverty: A review and future research directions, Journal of business venturing, 34, 197–214.
Tiwari, R., & Kalogerakis, K. (2016). A bibliometric analysis of academic papers on frugal innovation, Working paper//Technologie-und Innovations management, Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg= Arbeitspapier.
Ukanwa, I., Xiong, L., & Anderson, A. (2018). Experiencing microfinance: Effects on poor women entrepreneurs’ livelihood strategies, Journal of small business and enterprise development, 25(3), 428-446.
Urban, B. (2007). Associations between entrepreneurial empowerment and reasons for self-employment, South African journal of economic and management sciences, 10(3), 313-329.
Van Leeuwen, T.N. (2007). Modelling of bibliometric approaches and importance of output verification in research performance assessment, Researchevaluation, 16(2), 93-105.
Van Raan, A.(1996).Advanced bibliometric methods as quantitative core of peer review based evaluation and foresight exercises, Scientometrics, 36(3), 397-420.
Viswanathan, M., Sridharan, S., Ritchie, R., Venugopal, S., & Jung, K. (2012). Marketing interactions in subsistence marketplaces: A bottom-up approach to designing public policy, Journal of public policy & marketing, 31(2), 159-177.
Wacker, J.G. (1998). A definition of theory: research guidelines for different theory-building research methods in operations management, Journal of operations management, 16(4), 361-385.
Welzel, C. (2013). Freedom rising, Cambridge University Press.
Zaby, S. (2019). Science mapping of the global knowledge base on microfinance: Influential authors and documents, 1989–2019, Sustainability, 11(14), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143883

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics