Johnson, M.P. and Schaltegger, S. (2020) ‘Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development: a review and multilevel causal mechanism framework’. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 44, 6: 1141–1173.

This article examines recent research on social and sustainable entrepreneurship. The authors argue that while previous studies have shed light on particular aspects of the subject, more integrated approaches are needed in order to capture this, “multilevel phenomenon connecting social, environmental and economic dimensions between entrepreneurial processes, market transformations, as well as large- scale societal developments.” They undertake a systematic literature review to draw out the various causal mechanisms that help to promote sustainable development and conclude that researchers need to adopt multilevel frameworks that are capable of linking them together.

Henry, C., Foss, L., and Ahl, H. (2016) ‘Gender and entrepreneurship research: a review of methodological approaches’. International Small Business Journal, 34, 3: 217–41.

This article presents the findings of a systematic literature review (SLR) of the gender and entrepreneurship literature over the last 30 years. It examines methodological trends in the field of gender and entrepreneurship. The authors find that there are many large-scale empirical studies focused on male/female comparisons. However, little detail is provided on industry sector or sampling methods and the feminist critique is often missing. They recommend new approaches to address these issues in the future.

Zahra, S. A., Wright, M., and Abdelgawad, S. G. (2015) ‘Contextualization and the advancement of entrepreneurship research’. International Small Business Journal, 32, 5: 479–500.

This article analyses the role of context in entrepreneurship research. The authors examine different dimensions of entrepreneurial context, focusing in particular on temporal (i.e. time), industry, spatial, social and organisational, ownership and governance. They discuss why it is important to take these different contexts into account and identify some of the challenges of undertaking contextualised entrepreneurship research.