Thomas P. Kenworthy

Finding Practical Knowledge in Entrepreneurship

Research in the pre–paradigmatic, applied scientific field of entrepreneurship is characterized mainly as exploratory. This article advocates for a considerable shift toward a more effective applied research agenda. An applied research program is proposed based on modifications to a Lakatosian research program. The agenda extends beyond typical calls for more replication work to include a focus on practical outcomes, practical significance, and surprising findings among other things. The intent is to produce substantially more practical knowledge—knowledge that is useful to entrepreneurs, policy makers, educators, and scholars.

Theory usage in empirical operations management research: a review and discussion

The purpose of this paper is to analyze more than three decades of theory testing published in leading operations management (OM) journals.,This piece examines the amount of theory testing, the extent to which theories are tested multiple times, and the disciplinary origins of the theories that are tested.,The analysis revealed that empirical OM researchers have increasingly responded to demands for more theory-driven knowledge over time. OM researchers are developing and using a wide array of domestic theories to understand empirical data. The examination also revealed a substantial focus on theory borrowed from other scientific fields.,The findings here suggest that OM is clearly a maturing discipline. As the discipline matures, it is important to consider to what extent borrowed theories and frameworks can offer value to OM. A preliminary vetting model is advanced in order to critically assess foreign theory. It is hoped that future screening promotes only the most useful non-domestic theory, thereby ensuring sufficient journal space for domestic theory and resulting in effective solutions to the pressing, practical problems of the OM field.

In consideration of entrepreneurship theory

This study analyzes more than three decades of theory testing published in leading entrepreneurship journals. It uncovers the amount of theory testing; the extent to which theories are tested multiple times; and, the disciplinary origins of the theories that are tested. The analysis reveals that empirical researchers have increasingly responded to demands for more theory-driven knowledge over time through domestic theory creation and wholesale adoption of theories from other fields. It is observed that the most tested theories are borrowed from other scientific fields. The value of agency theory, the most popular one, is assessed via a foreign theory screening model. The result suggests that researchers cannot be too cautious when considering foreign theory for domestic knowledge development. Ultimately, researchers are strongly encouraged to consider testing the many domestic theories that have been specifically designed to answer the pressing, practical problems of the entrepreneurship discipline.

An Analysis of Innovation in Oil and Gas Projects

We examine the effects of predictors from the firm, project, and individual levels on innovative behavior within oil and gas projects. The theory and propositions tested in this study stem from extant work on (1) innovation in poor performance conditions and (2) the availability of slack resources. The research findings revealed that innovative behaviors were present regardless of size, type, and project performance level. Further, it appears that the relationship between slack and innovation depends on when the innovation is introduced (i.e., when project performance is ahead of, or behind, a plan). Finally, the existence of innovation in (1) under-performing projects did not appear to exert any influence on project outcome, and (2) over-performing projects appeared to exert a negative influence on project outcome.

The Positivistic Social Science of Entrepreneurship

We may want to question the general usefulness of business tools and teaching for enhancing entrepreneurial performance, but what about the rest of entrepreneurial science – what does it have to offer? Entrepreneurship as a positivistic social science has been advancing our knowledge base, one piece at a time, on how to more successfully develop businesses. How difficult is it to tap this knowledge?

Entrepreneurial Work Experience

This chapter is concerned first of all with the nature of entrepreneurial work and with the cognition that may well underlie this type of work. By understanding the nature of entrepreneurial work it is argued that we better understand entrepreneurs – the problems they live with and the way they think about them.

Some Implications and Conclusions

So what are the implications of this general social science theory of entrepreneurship? How might it affect the behavior of entrepreneurs, education programming, research agendas, and the future redesign of the entrepreneurship discipline?

The Core Evidence

Now that we have formulated a modernized version of Schumpeter’s model, should we believe it? The next chapter is concerned with the empirical evidence and how it relates entrepreneurial creativity with venture development.

A General Theory and Its Explanatory Power

Now that we appreciate that entrepreneurial creativity might be relatively well supported as a potentially predictive theory by the empirical literature, other questions may occur to us. How well does this general scientific theory compare with other existing general scientific theories? To what extent does the theory of entrepreneurial creativity have broad explanatory power, explaining entrepreneurial success?

Small Business Entrepreneurship: Is a Caterpillar a Butterfly?

In Chap. 2 you may have been struck by the size of the challenge you likely will face if you want to be above the 75 % or so of the population who earn less overall as entrepreneurs than they would in comparable jobs. If you also want to make enough to cover the cost of capital invested, you will have to be better prepared than the next person. To get that edge many people will think of getting a business education. This chapter will give you a sense of the small advantages a business education will give you.