Title: Poverty and entrepreneurship: a systematic review of poverty-related issues discussed in entrepreneurship literature

Authors: Masoud Moradi; Narges Imanipour; Zahra Arasti; Reza Mohammadkazemi

Addresses: Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Poverty is an ever-increasing economic problem and a number of theorists have introduced entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty. However, a small number of studies have theorised, modelled, or analysed entrepreneurship's contribution to poverty alleviation. In view of that, this study aimed to systematically review previous research on poverty-related issues discussed in entrepreneurship literature to identify common poverty-related issues addressed by entrepreneurship literature. This study as a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted on a total of 175 papers that were classified into 11 main categories, each representing a major poverty-related issue discussed in entrepreneurship literature. The findings of this study indicate that although many efforts have been made to cover the poverty-related issues in entrepreneurship studies, such as the necessity-based entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship in rural areas, and the empowerment of poor people for undertaking entrepreneurial activities, there are still many dimensions of poverty untouched.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; poverty; poor people; necessity-based entrepreneurship; systematic literature review; sustainable development; developing world; rural areas.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2020.105984

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2020 Vol.16 No.2, pp.125 - 152

Received: 01 Oct 2018
Accepted: 04 Dec 2018
Published online: 24 Mar 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article