Abstract
Undoubtedly, the role of the business entrepreneur in the global economic landscape has evolved significantly, transitioning from being a scarcely referenced figure with a secondary economic function to becoming a central pillar of economic development and innovation; however, its characterization becomes complex as there are diverse perspectives to describe this economic agent. In this sense, the conceptualization of the business entrepreneur has been marked by a wide diversity of theoretical approaches which, although they have contributed to the development of the entrepreneurship field, have also generated significant conceptual fragmentation that hinders the construction of integrative frameworks capable of explaining the entrepreneurial phenomenon from broad and contextualized perspectives, particularly in complex environments such as the Venezuelan one. In light of this, the present research aimed to formulate an integrative definition of the business entrepreneur contextualized to the Venezuelan environment, based on the analysis of the main theoretical conceptions regarding this agent. Methodologically, the research was approached from the interpretive paradigm, with a documentary, analytical, and projective design, supported by a systematic review of classical, neoclassical, and contemporary authors linked to the study of entrepreneurship, as well as institutional and legal sources related to the Venezuelan entrepreneurial ecosystem. In this regard, through the categorical content analysis technique, it was possible to identify six recurring dimensions in the conceptualization of the entrepreneur: economic-functional, organizational, contextual, innovation, cognitive, and psychological, and based on the articulation of these dimensions, an integrative definition is presented as a result, recognizing the entrepreneur as a multidimensional agent whose action is executed in permanent interaction with their environment; it is concluded that the construction of an integrative definition favors the epistemological strengthening of the entrepreneurship field and provides solid foundations for future research, training processes, and even for the design of public policies linked to entrepreneurship in emerging contexts.
References
Baptista, A. (2011). Bases cuantitativas de la economía venezolana 1830-2008. (2ª ed.). Fundación Bancaribe para la Ciencia y la Cultura.
Baumol, W. J. (1990). Entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive, and destructive. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5, Part 1), 893–921. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2937617
Baumol, W. J. (2010). The microtheory of innovative entrepreneurship. Princeton University Press.
Buendía, L. (2013). El capitalismo rentístico y la economía política venezolana del siglo XX. Fondo Editorial de la Universidad de León.
Busenitz, L., West, G., Shepherd, D., Nelson, T., Chandler, G. y Zacharakis, A. (2003). Entrepreneurship research in emergence: Past trends and future directions. Journal of Management, 29(3), 285-308.
Cantillon, R. (1755). Essai sur la nature du commerce en général. Fletcher Gyles.
CAF -Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe. (2024, abril 4). 91% de los emprendimientos en el país surgen por necesidad de subsistencia, indica GEM Venezuela 2022-2023. Recuperado el 05 de enero de 2026, de https://www.caf.com/es/actualidad/noticias/91-de-los-emprendimientos-en-el-pais-surgen-por-necesidad-de-subsistencia-indica-gem-venezuela
Davidsson, P. (2016). Researching entrepreneurship: Conceptualization and design (2da ed.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26692-3
Davidsson, P. (2006). The GEM research program: Some critical reflections. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(1), 45-60.
Davidsson, P. (2015). Entrepreneurial opportunities and the entrepreneurship nexus: A re-conceptualization. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(5), 674-695.
Davidsson, P. (2021). Ditching discovery-creation for unified venture creation research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(3), 594–612. https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587211030870
Drucker, P. (1985). Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles. Heinman. HarperCollins e-books. https://rudyct.com/InovBis/Peter%20F.%20Drucker%20-%20Innovation%20and%20Entrepreneurship-1985.pdf
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. (2024). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2023/2024 global report. London Business School. https://www.gemconsortium.org/reports
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. (2024). GEM Venezuela 2022-2023: Informe ejecutivo. Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB) e Instituto de Estudios Superiores en Administración (IESA). https://bit.ly/InformefinalGEMVzla2023
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. (s.f.). How GEM defines entrepreneurship. Recuperado el 15 de diciembre de 2025, de https://www.gemconsortium.org/wiki/1149
Hurtado, J. (2010). Metodología de la investigación: Guía para la comprensión holística de la ciencia (4ta ed.). Quirón Ediciones.
Kirzner, I. (1973). Competition and Entrepreneurship. University of Chicago Press. https://www.sjsu.edu/people/john.estill/courses/158-s15/Israel%20Kirzner%20-%20Competition%20And%20Entrepreneurship.pdf.
Kirzner, I. (1979). Perception, opportunity, and profit: Studies in the theory of entrepreneurship. University of Chicago Press.
Kirzner, I. (1985). Discovery and the capitalist process. University of Chicago Press.
Kirzner, I. (2000). The Driving Force of the Market. Routledge.
Knight, F. (1921). Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston and New York. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/books/risk/riskuncertaintyprofit.pdf
Knight, F. (1921/2002). Riesgo, incertidumbre y beneficio. Madrid: Aosta.
Lachmann, L. (1956). Capital and its structure. G. Bell & Sons on behalf of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Lachmann, L. M. (1986). The market as an economic process. Basil Blackwell.
Ley para el Fomento y Desarrollo de Nuevos Emprendimientos. República Bolivariana de Venezuela. 15 de octubre de 2021. Gaceta Oficial N° 6.656 Extraordinaria.
Ley de Reforma de la Ley para el Fomento y Desarrollo de Nuevos Emprendimientos. República Bolivariana de Venezuela. 16 de septiembre de 2024. Gaceta Oficial N° 6.842 Extraordinaria.
Lincoln, Y. y Guba, E. (1985/1994). Investigación naturalista. Barcelona, España: Ediciones Paidós.
McKelvie, A. y Wiklund, J. (2010). Advancing firm growth research: A focus on growth mode instead of growth rate. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(2), 261-288.
Marshall, A. (1890). Principles of Economics. Macmillan. Londres. https://eet.pixel-online.org/files/etranslation/original/Marshall,%20Principles%20of%20Economics.pdf
McClelland, D. C. (1973). The achievement motive in economic growth. En K. W. Thompson (Ed.), The gap between rich and poor nations (pp. 51-65). Cambridge University Press.
McClelland, D. y Winter, D. (1969). Motivating Economic Achievement. New York: Free Press.
McClelland, D. (1961). The Achieving Society. New York: Van Nostrand.
Mill, J. S. (1848/2009). Principios de economía política. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change, and economic performance. Cambridge University Press.
Say, J. (1814). Traité d'economie politique. T. 1. (2 ed.). https://books.google.co.cr/books?id=8ElPAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Say, J.-B. (1828). Cours complet d'économie politique pratique. Rapilly. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1516463d
Schumpeter, J. (1934). The theory of economic development. Cambridge, Massachusetts. https://cruel.org/books/hy/shortschumpeter/SchumpeterTheoryofEconDev.pdf
Schumpeter, J. (1942). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Schumpeter, J. (1944). Teoría del desenvolvimiento económico. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Schumpeter, J. (1954). History of Economic Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shane, S. (2003). A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The Individual-Opportunity Nexus. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Shane, S. (2009). Why encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs is bad public policy. Small Business Economics, 33(2), 141-149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9215-5
Shane, S. (2012). Entrepreneurship: A process perspective (2da ed.). South-Western Cengage Learning.
Shane, S. y Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217 - 226. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2000.2791611
Stam, E., y Van Stel, A. (2011). Types of entrepreneurship and economic growth. Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Development, 4, 78-95. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199596515.003.0004
Stevenson, H. (1983). A perspective on entrepreneurship (Harvard Business School Background Note No. 384-131). Harvard Business School.
Stevenson, H. (2000). Why entrepreneurship has won! [Colección de ensayos]. Harvard Business School.
Stevenson, H. y Gumpert, D. (1985). The heart of entrepreneurship. Harvard Business Review, 63(2), 85-94.
Stevenson, H. y Jarillo, J. (1990). A paradigm of entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial management. Strategic Management Journal, 11(4), 17–27.
Strauss, A. y Corbin, J. (2016). Bases de la investigación cualitativa: Técnicas y procedimientos para desarrollar la teoría fundamentada (4ta ed.). Universidad de Antioquia.
Veciana, J. M. (1999). Creación de empresas como programa de investigación científica. Revista Europea de Dirección y Economía de la Empresa, 8(3), 11-36.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

