Field dynamics as context – a multi-perspective combined analysis of the effects of context on entrepreneurship

Addressing the growing need for nuanced understandings of entrepreneurial contexts, this article presents a multifaceted pragmatic framework for scrutinising the ‘field of entrepreneurship’ and its associated dynamics. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of practice and the institutional logics perspective, we introduce the concept of the field as a mid-level analytical lens—positioned between micro and macro perspectives—that captures the complex interplay of agency and structure in entrepreneurial activity. Our conceptualisation of the field enables the dissection of structural logics and actor dispositions, alongside the institutional processes that shape the entrepreneurial landscape. In response to calls for innovative methodologies in entrepreneurship research, we propose a combined analytical approach to unpack the layered complexities of entrepreneurial contexts, from individual actors to broader institutional influences. The utilisation of this ‘field of entrepreneurship’ concept, with a particular focus on field dynamics, serves as a pragmatic analytical unit, contributing to the broader discourse by balancing simplicity, accuracy, and generalisability. This research consequently offers a novel methodological avenue for exploring what facilitates or impedes entrepreneurial activity within varying contexts

Field dynamics as context – a multi-perspective combined analysis of the effects of context on entrepreneurship.

Addressing the growing need for nuanced understandings of entrepreneurial contexts, this article presents a multifaceted pragmatic framework for scrutinising the ‘field of entrepreneurship’ and its associated dynamics. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of practice and the institutional logics perspective, we introduce the concept of the field as a mid-level analytical lens—positioned between micro and macro perspectives—that captures the complex interplay of agency and structure in entrepreneurial activity. Our conceptualisation of the field enables the dissection of structural logics and actor dispositions, alongside the institutional processes that shape the entrepreneurial landscape. In response to calls for innovative methodologies in entrepreneurship research, we propose a combined analytical approach to unpack the layered complexities of entrepreneurial contexts, from individual actors to broader institutional influences. The utilisation of this ‘field of entrepreneurship’ concept, with a particular focus on field dynamics, serves as a pragmatic analytical unit, contributing to the broader discourse by balancing simplicity, accuracy, and generalisability. This research consequently offers a novel methodological avenue for exploring what facilitates or impedes entrepreneurial activity within varying contexts

The conceptualisation of the ‘field of entrepreneurship’ as a unit of analysis in a region, utilising an institutional logics approach

This conceptual paper seeks to tackle the issue of researching the context of entrepreneurship, and in particular trying to understand the context of entrepreneurship in regions with differing business start up rates. The key idea being discussed in this concept paper is that start-up propensity in a region is influenced by a ‘field of entrepreneurship’ that crosses organisational and industrial field boundaries. The context of entrepreneurship is discussed, and the institutional logics approach is suggested, as a lens, in which the context of entrepreneurship may be investigated. Linked to the institutional view and institutional logics approach, the field of ‘entrepreneurship in a region’ is theorised as a unit of analysis, and the concept of the ‘field’ and its connection with entrepreneurship in a region is hypothesised, drawing influence from the relational perspective and Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, illusio, capital and associated field theory. The legitimacy of entrepreneurial action and links to the ‘field of entrepreneurship’ and the institutionalisation of the habitus that actors within this field in a region are embedded in will be hypothesised. The usage of the hypothesised ‘field of entrepreneurship’ in a region is then explored as a proposed unit of analysis within the application of the institutional logics approach. This will be together with an explanation of the application and potential benefit derived from understanding the accompanying institutional logics, linked to the context of entrepreneurship in a particular region. In relation to these methodological issues, a method by which the context of entrepreneurship can be investigated and researched is then proposed