Researching Entrepreneurial Leadership: A Review and Research Agenda

Chandranathan, Preman (2020) Researching Entrepreneurial Leadership: A Review and Research Agenda. Working Paper. Lancaster University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Entrepreneurial leadership has emerged as an intriguing object of inquiry, informed by conceptual resources from entrepreneurship and leadership research yet lacking in conceptual clarity of its own. Against this backdrop, this article offers two contributions to this evolving body of research. First, it contributes a critical review of the ways in which concepts such as entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial opportunity, transformational leadership, authentic leadership and situational leadership have informed existing research on entrepreneurial leadership. From this review, the authors note that existing research has largely been underpinned by an individualistic bias in conceptualizing entrepreneurial leadership, neglecting to consider how ownership of the organizational form as private property may influence the lived experiences of leadership amongst organizational actors. Second, and to explore this foregoing issue, the authors contribute a research agenda in terms of thematic, theoretical and methodological ideas that may be considered by researchers. Broadly, the authors outline how future research may benefit from a theoretical focus on Marx’s analysis of the capitalist mode of production, and methodologically, qualitative and interpretivist research that engages with owner-managers and employees of small business contexts to develop more contextual and relational understandings of ‘entrepreneurial leadership’ as an activity that is undertaken within the context of capitalist work and organization.