Senior Entrepreneurship: A Selective Review and Research Agenda

Scholarly interest in entrepreneurial activity by older members of society has been rising, reflected in the growing tally of publications about senior entrepreneurship as a distinct form of entrepreneurship. Our goal is to review and communicate the key conceptual approaches and empirical findings about senior entrepreneurs’ characteristics and behaviors, and to propose a research agenda. We analyze the literature by focusing on two research questions. i. What determines senior entrepreneurship? ii. What determines the performance of senior entrepreneurs? Although senior entrepreneurs are not a homogeneous group, they are: more likely driven by non-pecuniary motivations than pecuniary ones; mostly male, married, and with high levels of education attainment. In general, senior entrepreneurs have previous entrepreneurial experience and display high levels of self-efficacy. A shift to self-employment later in life often leads to positive changes on individuals’ quality of life, but negative impacts on income. Existing research is mostly based on data collected to assess entrepreneurs in general and not designed to analyze variables of specific interest for senior subjects. Future research should seek to develop primary data focusing on the relationship between quality of life and performance outcomes, and entrepreneurial activity’s impact on active ageing. Senior entrepreneurship needs to be examined through multidisciplinary lenses including psychology, gerontology, economics, and sociology.