Economic theories of the entrepreneur: A systematic review of the literature

Economic theories of the entrepreneur have received more attention recently in theentrepreneurship literature. Different concepts and ideas are typically borrowed from variouseconomists to create new, or expand upon existing, theories. This has created a somewhatfragmented literature, and I found no evidence of a previous systematic (or comprehensiveliterature) review of any economic theories of the entrepreneur.The many different economic theories of the entrepreneur over time and a renewed interestin researching entrepreneurship within an economics framework led to my researchquestions: What are the different economic theories of the entrepreneur? What are the mainthemes and sub themes of these economic theories?The aims of my systematic review were: (1) to provide a literature scoping section that givesan overview of the economics and entrepreneurship fields which lead to my researchquestion; (2) to develop a systematic review protocol which outlines the various stages ofthe review process which will answer the review question; and (3) to carry out the review bylocating and synthesizing the relevant literature.The process proved beneficial as evidenced by the comprehensiveness of the findings. Themost influential school of economics on the field of entrepreneurship is arguably theAustrian school, with Israel Kirzner as the main developer of an economic theory of theentrepreneur. Most of the current themes in the entrepreneurship literature come from histheory and future research in entrepreneurship appears to be moving forward with ideasfrom the Austrian school.I have synthesized the results from the systematic search and identified 7 major recurringthemes in the literature: entrepreneurial opportunity identification and exploitation;discovery; knowledge; uncertainty and risk; the market as a process; disequilibrium; andalertness. Taken together, these themes provide a clearer picture of the economic function ofthe entrepreneur.