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Towards an Untrepreneurial economy: The Entrepreneurship Industry and the Veblenian Entrepreneur

Year: 2020

Type: conference-abstract

Abstract: What is driving the declining quality of innovation-driven entrepreneur-ship? In this paper, we argue the growing entrepreneurship industry is an important yet overlooked explanation. This rapidly growing industry has transformed the nature of entrepreneurship and encouraged a particular form of low-quality entrepreneurship. It has done so by leveraging the Ide-ology of Entrepreneurialism to mass-produce and mass-market products that make possible what we term Veblenian Entrepreneurship. This is en-trepreneurship pursued primarily as a form of conspicuous consumption. Aside from lowering average entrepreneurial quality, Veblenian Entrepre-neurship has a range of (short-run) positive and (medium and long-run) negative effects for both individuals and society at large. We argue that the rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur has contributed to creating an increas-ingly Untrepreneurial Economy. That is an economy which superficially appears innovation-driven and dynamic, but is actually rife with ineffi-ciencies and unable to generate economically meaningful growth through innovation.

Source: Academy of Management Proceedings

DOI: 10.5465/ambpp.2020.152

Authors: Rasmus Koss Hartmann, Anders Dahl Krabbe, Andre Spicer

Institutions: University of Southern Denmark, Stanford University, City, University of London

Language: English

Topic: Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W3045900793

Cites: 147

Cited by: 8

Related to: 10