Integrative entrepreneurship research-bridging the gap between sociological and economic perspectives

The predominant perspective of entrepreneurship was rooted in the battle of entrepreneurship scholars to establish and legitimate a distinct discipline within the economics research community by delineating it from neighbouring disciplines such as sociology and psychology. As a result, social science aspects have tended to remain ignored; entrepreneurship research has largely lost the view of 'the big picture' that is necessary to understand the complex phenomenon under research. We argue that, in order to earn legitimacy as a research discipline, entrepreneurship research needs to be reintegrated into the broader landscape of social science - the missing links of entrepreneurship research. We therefore investigate which interfaces between sociological and economic perspectives can be identified in the discussion on entrepreneurship research on the basis of a questionnaire survey of 105 entrepreneurship researchers in the German-language realm, thereby providing a necessary base line for an interdisciplinary research program that offers the underpinnings for interdisciplinary research and first steps for a future integrative entrepreneurship research approach.