Alphabetical

The A-Z Glossary of Entrepreneurship Theories

Welcome to the complete dictionary of entrepreneurial frameworks. Use this glossary to navigate the complex landscape of startup theory, from psychological traits to economic structures.

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A

• Achievement Motivation Theory: McClelland's theory that entrepreneurs are driven by an intense psychological need to excel and solve problems (n-Ach).
• Actor-Network Theory: Views startups not as isolated units, but as a network of human and non-human actors (technology, laws) interacting.
• Actualization Theory: Ramoglou & Tsang's view that opportunities are "propensities" waiting to be actualized, bridging discovery and creation.
• Addiction Theory: Is entrepreneurship a behavioral addiction?
• Agency Theory: The study of the conflicts that arise when a principal (owner) hires an agent (manager) to perform work.
• Agglomeration Theory: Why startups cluster in specific geographic cities.
• Alertness Theory (Kirzner): The ability to notice profit opportunities that others have missed without a deliberate search.
• Ambiguity Tolerance Theory: The psychological capacity to function without clear outcomes.
• Architectural Innovation Theory: Changing the relationship between product components.
• Attribution Theory: How entrepreneurs explain the causes of their success or failure.

B

• Baumol's Theory: Productive vs. Unproductive Entrepreneurship.
• Bicultural Theory: Leveraging dual cultural identities for business ideas.
• Birth Order Theory: How being first or last born affects risk-taking.
• Born Global Startups: Ventures that seek to derive competitive advantage from selling in multiple countries from inception.
• Born Open Startups: Startups that open-source their IP from day one.
• Brain Parasite Theory: Toxoplasmosis infection correlated with risk-taking.
• Bricolage Theory: "Making do with what is at hand." The art of creating something from a diverse range of available resources.

C

• Cantillon Theory: The entrepreneur defined as the risk-bearer.
• Childhood Adversity Theory: Early hardship fostering resilience and entrepreneurial grit.
• Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation effects.
• Competence Destruction Theory: Innovations that make existing skills obsolete.
• Contingency Theory: There is no single best way to manage a company.
• Creative Destruction (Schumpeter): The process of industrial mutation that incessantly destroys the old economic structure and creates a new one.
• Critical Theory: Challenging power structures and ideologies in business.
• Cultural Dimensions Theory: Hofstede's framework on how culture impacts business.

D - E

• Diffusion of Innovations Theory: Rogers' curve of how new ideas spread.
• Disagreeableness Theory: Why uncooperative personalities often succeed as founders.
• Disruptive Innovation Theory: Clayton Christensen's theory of how smaller companies with fewer resources can challenge established incumbents.
• Dynamic Capabilities: The ability to integrate and reconfigure internal competencies.
• Effectuation Theory: Sarasvathy's logic of thinking that starts with "who I am and what I know" rather than a pre-defined goal.
• Emancipation Theory: Entrepreneurship as a way to break free from constraints.
• Embeddedness Theory: Economic action is embedded in social networks.
• Expectancy Theory: Motivation based on the belief that effort leads to performance.
• Experiential Learning Theory: Kolb's cycle of learning by doing.
• External Enabler Theory: How environmental changes trigger new ventures.

F - I

• Family Entrepreneurship Theory: Families building businesses together; the family unit as the primary engine for venture creation.
• Feminist Theory: Analyzing how gender biases shape entrepreneurial structures.
• First Mover Advantage: The benefits gained by the initial entrant into a market.
• Generativity Theory: The concern for establishing a legacy for future generations.
• Genetic Theory: The heritability of entrepreneurial traits.
• Great Man Theory: The belief that leaders are born with inherent traits, not made.
• Harvard School Theory: Market structure dictates conduct and performance.
• Hubris Theory: Extreme overconfidence which aids resilience but can lead to poor strategic decisions.
• Human Capital Theory: Education and skills as economic assets.
• Hybrid Entrepreneurship: Starting a business while retaining a day job.
• Impulsivity Theory: Functional impulsivity allows entrepreneurs to seize fleeting opportunities before the "window" closes.
• Information Asymmetry Theory: When one party has more or better information than the other (e.g., founders vs. investors).
• Individual-Opportunity Nexus: Opportunities are created by the unique combination of the indiviual and the context.
• Institutional Theory: How rules, norms, and culture shape organizational behavior.

J - P

• Jack of All Trades Theory: Lazear's view that entrepreneurs must be generalists.
• Knowledge Spillover Theory: Commercializing knowledge that incumbents failed to use.
• Lean Launchpad Theory: Business model generation and customer discovery.
• Liquidity Theory: Access to liquid cash as the primary driver of startups.
• Locus of Control Theory: Internal belief in one's ability to control outcomes.
• Machiavellian Theory: Implies that entrepreneurs must sometimes resort to cunning or unethical behaviors to navigate political obstacles.
• Misfit Theory: Suggests that the drive to create is often born from the inability to "fit in" with dominant cultural values.
• Narcissism Theory: Examines how the need for admiration and lack of empathy can drive empire-building but destroy team cohesion.
• Neurodiversity & Mental Disorders: ADHD, Autism, and Dyslexia in entrepreneurship.
• Necessity vs. Opportunity: Push factors vs. pull factors in starting a firm.
• Niche Theory: Ventures must find a specific resource space (niche) where competition is low to survive.
• Pecking Order Theory: The hierarchy of funding: internal funds > debt > equity.
• Physiological Theory: Examines hormones (like testosterone) and physiological responses to stress to explain entrepreneurial behavior.
• Planned Behavior Theory: Posits that entrepreneurial intention is the result of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.
• Population Ecology: Survival of the fittest at the organizational level.
• Procedural Justice Theory: Proposes that people care more about the fairness of the process used to make a decision than the outcome.
• Prospect Theory: Decision making under risk: Loss Aversion.

R - S

• Radical Subjectivism: The future is imagined and created, not predicted.
• Real Options Theory: Viewing business decisions as a series of options to pivot.
• Regulatory Focus Theory: Differentiates between a Promotion Focus (seeking gains) and Prevention Focus (avoiding losses).
• Resource Based View (RBV): A framework used to determine the strategic resources a firm can exploit to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
• Resource Dependency Theory: How external resources affect organizational behavior.
• Resource Scarcity Theory: How access to financial resources affects entrepreneurs.
• Self-Competition Theory: The notion that entrepreneurs are primarily motivated by a desire to surpass their own past performances.
• Self-Efficacy Theory: The belief in one's own capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments.
• Slacker Theory: What if entrepreneurship is only for the children of the rich?
• Social Entrepreneurship: New ventures are not always about profit, somtimes they are trying to help.
• Social Identity Theory: Explores how the centrality of an individual's "entrepreneurial identity" drives their behavior and venture growth.
• Social Judgement Theory: How audiences perceive the legitimacy of a new venture.
• Social Capital / Network Theory: The value derived from social relations.
• Spinout vs. Spinoff Theory: New independent firms created from parent companies.
• Sports-based Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship may be different in the sports world, and new theory might help.
• Stages Theory (Life-Cycle): Views a business as a living organism that goes through distinct stages: Birth, Growth, Maturity, and Decline.
• Stakeholder Theory: Balancing the interests of employees, customers, and investors.
• Stewardship Theory: What if entrepreneurs can be trusted as stewards of the company?
• Strategic Disagreements Theory: Employees leaving to start rival firms.
• Structuration Theory: The interplay between agent actions and social structures.

T - Z

• Transaction Cost Theory (Coase): Explains why firms exist: to reduce the costs of finding, negotiating, and enforcing contracts in the market.
• Uncertainty-Bearing Theory (Knight): Profit is the reward for bearing uninsurable risk.
• Upper Echelons Theory: Organizational outcomes reflect the top management's values.
• Utility Theory: Entrepreneurs make decisions based on the concept of utility.
• Weak Ties Theory (Granovetter): Novel information comes from distant acquaintances.
• Weber’s Sociological Theory: Max Weber's theory that religious beliefs (specifically the Protestant Work Ethic) are a key determinant of entrepreneurial development.
• Withdrawal of Status Respect: Loss of social standing driving entrepreneurial action.
• X-Efficiency Theory (Leibenstein): The difference between optimal and actual efficiency.