1 Introduction
2 Materials and methods
(entrepreneu* OR startu* OR start-u* OR ventur*) AND (sars-CoV-2 OR sarsCoV2 OR COVID-19 OR COVID19 OR corona OR coronavirus OR “corona virus”)
Paper | Research question | Primary focus | Research paradigm | Data origin | Sample | Method | Key results |
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Bacq et al. (2020) | Which organizing principles enable rapid and innovative responses to crises? | Opportunity | Primary qualitative | USA | One collaborative online event | Autoethnographic account | Effective organizing principles for online hackathons and idea blitzes |
Bandaranaike et al. (2020) | How can an entrepreneurial mindset be induced in students under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic? | Resilience | Primary quantitative | Mexico | 203 students | Univariate statistical analysis | Reflection helps to develop an entrepreneurial mindset even in online education |
Beland et al. (2020) | What are the effects of COVID-19 on entrepreneurs? | Uncertainty | Secondary quantitative | Canada | Canadian Labor Force Survey: 56,000 households and 100,000 individuals | Univariate statistical analysis | A sharp decline in entrepreneurial activity with the first lockdown |
Björklund et al. (2020) | How can entrepreneurs experiment with new opportunities and business models in times of crisis? | Opportunity | Primary qualitative | Finland | 844 social media posts of 66 ventures in food and beverages; 17 interviews | Thematic analysis; content analysis | Identification of four pathways to expand the entrepreneurial solution space |
Block et al. (2021) | What are the factors determining bootstrap financing in a crisis? | Resilience | Primary quantitative | Germany | 17,046 entrepreneurial ventures | Logistic regression and negative binomial regression | Individual perceptions of the severity of the crisis for the firm, private consumption, and entrepreneurial experience determine the use of bootstrap finance |
Brown and Rocha (2020) | How is the COVID-19 pandemic in China affecting entrepreneurial finance? | Uncertainty | Secondary quantitative | China | 13,729 funding transactions | Univariate statistical analysis | Equity funding in Chinese seed-stage ventures drastically declined during the crisis |
Brown et al. (2020) | How does the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK affect entrepreneurial finance? | Uncertainty | Secondary quantitative | UK | 12,259 funding transactions | Univariate statistical analysis | Equity funding in UK seed-stage ventures declined drastically during the crisis |
Cepel et al. (2020) | How do entrepreneurs evaluate pre-pandemic risk and in-pandemic risk? | Uncertainty | Primary quantitative | Czech Republic and Slovakia | 1,502 entrepreneurs | Bivariate analysis | Financial risk rises with crisis, risk related to human resources declines |
Dumitrasciuc and Turnea (2020) | Which relevant trends for entrepreneurship emerged from the COVID-19 crisis? | Opportunity | Primary quantitative | Romania | 117 entrepreneurs | Univariate analysis | Freelancing, digital entrepreneurship, and globalization benefit from the crisis |
Ebersberger and Kuckertz (2021) | Which type of innovator is the quickest to react to the COVID-19 crisis? | Opportunity | Secondary quantitative | Global | 136 innovations | Network analysis; Poisson QML regression; specification curves | Startups introduce crisis-induced innovations significantly faster than corporates and research institutions |
Escamilla-Fajardo et al. (2020) | How has the COVID-19 crisis changed sports entrepreneurship? | Resilience | Primary quantitative | Spain | 145 sports clubs | Bivariate analysis, regressions | Risk-taking and innovativeness increase with the crisis, proactiveness remains unchanged; all dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation help to explain service quality |
Fairlie (2020) | What are the effects of COVID-19 on entrepreneurial activity? | Uncertainty | Secondary quantitative | USA | 130,000 individuals from a current population survey | Univariate statistical analysis, simulation | A sharp decline of entrepreneurial activity with the first lockdown |
Farhoud et al. (2021) | How can social enterprise crowdfunding be successful in a crisis? | Resilience | Primary qualitative | UK | 1 social enterprise crowdfunding platform | Translational research | 7 strategies in three perspectives for social enterprise crowdfunding platforms to effectively serve social enterprises |
Fisher et al. (2020) | What are the dynamics in existing organizations targeting entrepreneurial responses to crisis? | Opportunity | Primary qualitative | USA | Organizers of collaborative online event | Autoethnographic account | Entrepreneurial action in existing organizations requires hustle and people giving themselves “permission” to act |
Gheorghiu (2020) | How do entrepreneurs perceive government support during the crisis? | Resilience | Primary quantitative | Romania | 6,120 entrepreneurs | Univariate analysis | Entrepreneurs appreciate policy initiatives securing liquidity, criticize a lack of transparency of the conditions, and see potential in digitization |
Haneberg (2020) | How do responses to crisis affect inter-organizational learning in entrepreneurial ventures? | Resilience | Primary quantitative | Norway | 228 knowledge-based entrepreneurial ventures | Cluster analysis, Tobit regression | Firms’ responses can be clustered into “collaborators,” “supporters,” “responders” and “victims,” the first three clusters significantly impact inter-organizational learning |
Hernández-Sánchez et al. (2020) | How does the crisis affect entrepreneurial intention? | Resilience | Primary quantitative | Latin America | 934 university students | OLS regression | Negative crisis perception reduces entrepreneurial intention, this is mitigated by individual proactiveness, optimism, and whether individual psychological needs are satisfied |
Ignat and Constantin (2020) | How does the COVID-19 crisis affect “entrepreneurial spirit?” | Resilience | Secondary quantitative | Romania | 15 official economic indicators | Bivariate analysis | Entrepreneurial resilience is found in less developed areas, but more developed areas nonetheless have the greater potential to rebound |
Jaim (2020) | What is the gendered experience of female entrepreneurs in the crisis? | Uncertainty | Primary qualitative | Bangladesh | 5 entrepreneurial firms | Case studies | Patriarchal structures affect venture closures |
Kuckertz et al. (2020) | What adversity face startups during a crisis, what are their coping strategies, and how does policy aim to support them? | Resilience | Primary qualitative and quantitative | Germany/global | 16 ecosystem actors (qualitative) and 152 international media reports (quantitative) | Gioia structures/content analysis | Key dynamics model describes startup behavior in the crisis; policy responses to crisis largely neglect innovative startups |
Manolova et al. (2020) | How are female entrepreneurs pivoting their business models in the crisis? | Opportunity | Primary qualitative and quantitative | USA | 86 female entrepreneurs, 74 female entrepreneurs, two firms | Univariate statistical analysis; case studies | A crisis should be responded to with a discovery-driven approach that simultaneously reduces risks and seizes opportunity |
Mirza et al. (2020) | How does COVID-19 affect the behavior of investment funds? | Resilience | Secondary quantitative | Europe | 266 capital market, money market, and alternative investment funds | Univariate statistical analysis | Only social entrepreneurship funds are resilient |
Nummela et al. (2020) | How has COVID-19 changed the life of cosmopolitan entrepreneurs? | Uncertainty | Primary qualitative | Finland | 25 cosmopolitan entrepreneurs | Reports interview excerpts | Lockdowns limit the mobility of cosmopolitan entrepreneurs, challenge their business model but at the same time reduce stress |
Prah and Sibiri (2020) | How does the COVID-19 crisis affect migrant entrepreneurs? | Uncertainty | Primary qualitative | China | 26 African migrant entrepreneurs | Univariate analysis, interpretative analysis | Crisis identifies structural disadvantages of migrant entrepreneurs |
Rizvi et al. (2020) | What is the effect of COVID-19 on the performance and management of different investment funds? | Resilience | Secondary quantitative | Europe | 296 capital market, money market, and alternative investment funds | Univariate statistical analysis | Replicates Mirza et al. (2020), extends the timeframe |
Ruiz-Rosa et al. (2020) | How does the COVID-19 crisis influence social entrepreneurship intention? | Uncertainty | Primary quantitative | Spain | 558 students (324 pre-pandemic, 234 in-pandemic) | Partial least squares | Crisis significantly decreases social entrepreneurship intention |
Salamzadeh and Dana (2020) | What are the challenges of startups in the COVID-19 crisis? | Uncertainty | Primary qualitative | Iran | 15 startups | Interviews; focus groups | Suggests six primary categories of challenges in the crisis |
Saleh (2020) | What effect does the COVID-19 crisis have on the revenues of entrepreneurs? | Uncertainty | Primary qualitative | Kuwait | 14 entrepreneurs | Interviews | Changing consumer demand toward entrepreneurial businesses |
Santellano (2021) | Do barriers to institutional support also apply to minority entrepreneurs in the crisis? | Resilience | Primary qualitative | USA | 5 entrepreneurs | Interviews | Institutional racism puts minority entrepreneurs at a disadvantage |
Seidenschnur (2020) | How does the COVID-19 crisis produce or reinterpret social characters? | Uncertainty | Primary qualitative | Germany | 156 social media posts | Content analysis with inductive coding | Six social characters emerge, among them the “crisis entrepreneur” |
Setthachotsombut and Sua-iam (2020) | What is the relationship between resilience and business performance? | Resilience | Primary qualitative and quantitative | Thailand | 400 entrepreneurs plus 24 industry informants | Structural equation modeling | Resilience is a necessary condition of positive business performance effects |
Sultan and Sultan (2020) | What challenges do female entrepreneurs face in a developing economy and which enablers benefit them? | Opportunity | Primary qualitative and quantitative | Palestine | 260 female entrepreneurs, 15 interviewees | Univariate and bivariate statistical analysis | Crisis causes financial pressure and is answered with innovation |
Thorgren and Williams (2020) | What measures are employed by entrepreneurs to react to an external shock? | Resilience | Primary quantitative | Sweden | 456 entrepreneurs | Bivariate statistical analysis | Entrepreneurs react to crisis with defensive actions; the option of innovation is almost always ignored |
Zhang et al. (2021) | What are the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the peer-to-peer accommodation industry? | Opportunity | Primary qualitative | China | 9 hosts in the peer-to-peer accommodation industry | Open coding of interview data | COVID-19 causes a shake-out in the accommodation industry with innovative entrepreneurs shaping its future |
3 Results
3.1 The uncertainty perspective
3.2 The resilience perspective
3.3 The opportunity perspective
4 Discussion
4.1 Creative reconstruction as an entrepreneurial answer to crises
Implications for future research | Implications for policy | Implications for entrepreneurs | |
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Uncertainty–Resilience | Why do entrepreneurs respond differently to changing environmental uncertainty? Which crises-induced changes are best countered by which entrepreneurial decision logics (e.g., effectuation, bricolage, hustle)? Why do entrepreneurs differ in the way they activate their support systems in a crisis (e.g., networks, policy support)? How are these support systems affected by exogenous shocks? | Increase support for marginalized entrepreneurs experiencing the most adverse consequences of crises Mitigate increased uncertainty in the business environment through factors of resilience beyond mere liquidity (e.g., strengthening the ecosystem) | Build cognitive, relational, and material stock pre-crisis to build an adequate in-crisis response Apply entrepreneurial decision-making logics such as effectuation, bricolage, and hustle to navigate through increased uncertainty |
Uncertainty–Opportunity | What is the role of an exogenous shock on technological breakthroughs? What mediates the relationship of an exogenous shock and a technological breakthrough (e.g., enhanced creativity, efficiency, collaboration)? | Support entrepreneurial initiatives countering crises-induced uncertainty early on Strengthen entrepreneurial initiatives to allow for post-crises growth | Remember that while bringing greater uncertainty, crises still provide opportunities to grow Reflect on the new role of the venture in a changed environment Understand that unorthodox entrepreneurial approaches solve crisis-induced problems |
Resilience–Opportunity | How do levels of individual resilience correspond to the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities? When do entrepreneurial opportunities emerge as a coping response vs. creating (agency) environmental change? How does crisis experience shape further entrepreneurial path dependence/creation? Will such enterprises pivot more in the future? | Learn from entrepreneurial responses in a crisis by identifying problems only (increasingly) visible during a crisis Move beyond pre-crisis levels via supporting entrepreneurial initiatives that creatively reconstruct the future Prepare for upcoming crises by learning from the efficacy of policy responses and how resilient a policy was to exogenous pressure | Understand that finding ways to adequately respond to a crisis involves the possibility of identifying new entrepreneurial opportunities Make do with what is at hand during crises as this might lead to enhanced focus on value creation Invest effort in overcoming crisis-induced constraints and adversity to trigger learning that instills post-crisis resilience and drives growth beyond pre-crisis levels |