Research and researchers at the heart of entrepreneurial situations

Because entrepreneurship research is marked by a lack of continuity, researchers should focus on the situation, which emphasizes the link between individual behavior and the taking of initiatives. A review of recent entrepreneurship research highlights the theoretical move away from the individual toward the process and the gradual abandonment of a static vision in favor of a more dynamic one.A conceptual model that highlights the connections between the entrepreneur's actions and the surrounding support structures of the entrepreneurial situation is then presented, followed by suggestions concerning the study of entrepreneurial situations. Researchers must approach the entrepreneurial phenomenon with a theory of change and must avoid positioning their research in a positivist paradigm.They must also be prepared to track, in real time, events of entrepreneurial processes from their beginning to their end. (SAA)