ABSTRACT
This chapter presents and extends the concept of ‘constrained entrepreneurship’ as developed earlier by the authors (de Bruin and Dupuis, 2000; Dupuis and de Bruin, 2000), to provide an alternative to the view of entrepreneurship as an atomized, profit driven activity, which proceeds in an unfettered manner. The main purpose of this chapter is to heighten awareness of the entire context in which entrepreneurial activity is located. We put forward the constrained entrepreneurship construct, not as a model, but rather as a broad framework for contextual studies of entrepreneurship, noting that all entrepreneurship occurs within constraints: of social processes including institutional restraints at the macro level, and of cognitive limitations at the micro level of the individual. The concept is also hypothesized as a means of advancing an interdisciplinary synthesis, which is so necessary for a holistic perspective for understanding not only entrepreneurship, but all economic activity.
