The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship

David Audretsch (), Pontus Braunerhjelm, Zoltan Acs and Bo Carlsson

No 5326, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Contemporary theories of entrepreneurship generally focus on the decision-making context of the individual. The recognition of opportunities and the decision to commercialize them is the focal concern. While the prevalent view in the entrepreneurship literature is that opportunities are exogenous, the most prevalent theory of innovation in the economics literature suggests that opportunities are endogenous. This paper bridges the gap between the entrepreneurship and economic literature on opportunity by developing a knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. The basic argument is that knowledge created endogenously via R&D results in knowledge spillovers. Such spillovers give rise to opportunities to be identified and exploited by entrepreneurs. Our results show that there is a strong relationship between knowledge spillovers and new venture creation.

Keywords: Opportunity; Management science; entrepreneurship; Knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 M13 O3 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-ent, nep-hrm, nep-ino and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (385)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP5326 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Chapter: The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (2015)
Journal Article: The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (2013)
Journal Article: The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (2009)
Working Paper: The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (2007)
Working Paper: The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (2005)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5326

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP5326

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().