Theoretical and Methodological Paths for Studies About Entrepreneurship and Social Development: A Longitudinal Study of Scientific Production on the Web of Science in the Period 1996-2016

Introduction

Global competition is reflected in the experience of companies and in the new stance adopted by business management. Thus, economic development in the competitive business environment is constantly changing. This new business scenario has guided organizations towards a process of transfiguration regarding developing the transaction as well as planning its internal environment.

From this perspective, Ferraz et al. (1997, p. 3) add that the conceptualization of the competitiveness is a factor for the company’s success, describing it as “the company's ability to formulate and implement competitive strategies, enabling it to expand or retain on a long term basis, a sustainable market position.”.

Research in the field of entrepreneurship has made significant contributions to the initial development of Economics and Psychology. Among the economists, Schumpeter (1988) points out the pioneers to verify and emphasize the importance of the entrepreneur in the economy, represented by the agent who implements innovations, assuming the risks of his actions, collecting profit as his objective. Thus, for the author, entrepreneurship is the 'engine of the capitalist economy', in which the creation of new products and the search for new markets is able to promote the medical and social development (Schumpeter, 1988).

In this context, entrepreneurship is one of the significant pillars marking the changes in the economic environment (Baumol, 1968), especially in informal economy (Carree & Thurik, 2010; Williams & Nadin, 2010). Thus, it’s the organizations’ responsibility to establish junctures to the environment which will encourage the emergence of companies – economic, social and political institutions that lead to social and economic sustainability (Zarpellon, 2010).

This study compiles perspectives on the theme of entrepreneurship, which are associated with the origin of terminology, conceptualization, theories, and their relevance in the business and social environment. Hence, in order to broaden the knowledge of scientific production related to Entrepreneurship and Social Development, the following question has been asked: “How is the international publications scenario concerned to the theme Entrepreneurship and Social Development available in the Web database of Science from ISI WEB of Knowledge?”.

Beginning from the premise of investigating articles that jointly contemplate the subjects of Entrepreneurship and Social Development, this article tries to examine international publications connected to the theme of Entrepreneurship and Social Development available in the Web of Science database of ISI WEB of Knowledge in the period of 1996 to 2016, with the following specific goals:

• 1.

  Observe the publications related to the theme of Entrepreneurship and Social Development;

• 2.

  To characterize the production and methodological aspects of research;

• 3.

  In addition to this introductory section, the article discusses the topic of Entrepreneurship, followed by showing the context of Social Development, and then presenting the method of the study, where the procedures adopted for this research development are described.

Analysis and discussion of the obtained results are carried out in that order and then, final considerations of the study are presented.