What Is Risk, Exactly? Reviewing Construct Heterogeneity Across Business Fields and Implications for Entrepreneurship Research

Abstract

We conduct two literature reviews to explore what risk is in entrepreneurship and across business fields. The objective of these reviews is to shed light on the heterogeneity of the risk construct. In doing this, we are able to contribute to entrepreneurship research by informing scholars of a wider spectrum of risks in the literature, as well as the implications that adopting different views offers for future entrepreneurship research and practice. We find that the term “risk” is often used casually, without clear connections to category, level of analysis, and perspective. To address this, we propose a multidimensional conceptualization of risk. Moreover, our reviews suggest that entrepreneurship researchers are only scratching the surface with regard to the extant studies of risks and risk-related constructs. We highlight similarities and distinctions between entrepreneurship and other business research fields, which, in turn, help inform future research opportunities. Our future research program is aimed at both helping delineate risk in entrepreneurship conceptually and operationally while also illuminating exciting paths for expanding the study of risk across environmental level risks (sociopolitical and market risk categories) and firm and individual level risks (default, liquidity, operational, and pure risk categories).

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