Entrepreneurship as a field of study in engineering management

In the past decade entrepreneurship has become a fast growing field of study with contributions from several disciplines including psychology, sociology, strategic management, or economics. This paper reviews engineering literature and shows that by number of publications entrepreneurship is a relevant field of study for engineering (management), but it is scattered among multiple journals and lacks visibility and the conceptual integrity of a scholarly discipline and body of knowledge. The paper puts forward that engineering is well positioned to make an original contribution to entrepreneurship as engineers and entrepreneurs both are seen as “creators”. Engineering can contribute a systems perspective to understanding the entrepreneurial phenomenon and can offer a well-developed formal and mathematical apparatus to further the understanding of complex non-linear and dynamic processes in the creation of new ventures. The engineering code of ethics provides a broader basis to understand entrepreneurial motivations including utilitarian and esthetic values than a one-dimensional economic profit maximization assumption alone. The paper discusses elements of a research road map to develop this view.