Defining entrepreneurship as a 'domain of practice': implications for theory and research for policy and education

Abstract

This paper holds in tension two perspectives on the framing of entrepreneurship: one as a discipline and the other as a domain of practice. Cooperative inquiry is the research method used to 'hold' and 'conduct' this inquiry with the purpose of exploring the implications of both the different definitional frames of entrepreneurship and the use of a cooperative inquiry research method. First, we demonstrate the application and implementation of the cooperative inquiry. Second, the implications of the different definitional frames are explored within the contexts of Australian education policy and the teaching and learning practice of entrepreneurship. Finally, the implications and possibilities of a cooperative inquiry research method are discussed for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project.