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Competent data analysis is essential to entrepreneurship research and to the discipline's progression. A three-study design was used to evaluate quantitative analytic trends and the adequacy of entrepreneurship doctoral training. [...]

The use of structural equation modeling (SEM) in 92 strategic management studies published in nine prominent journals from 1984 to 2002 is compared with the guidelines culled from methodological research. It is found that the use and reporting of SEM is often less than ideal.

Franchising is a popular and multifaceted business arrangement that has attracted considerable research attention. Past inquiry has focused on franchising’s antecedents, consequences, and factors that moderate these relationships. The authors review recent progress within franchising research and identify gaps in the literature. They also describe how researchers could build greater knowledge about franchising by further leveraging various organizational theories and by drawing from a number of business and social science fields whose insights have not yet significantly influenced franchising research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opportunity is a central concept within the entrepreneurship field, and there is now a critical mass of literature centered on the concept. The authors seek to make two main contributions to this literature. First, we provide a detailed review of research on the opportunity concept and the processes surrounding it, highlighting extant insights and future needs. Second, we describe ways that the entrepreneurship literature's insights about the opportunity concept could be enhanced by research in other fields, both inside and outside business-related domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research design is a central element of empirical research, and thus, an important consideration for entrepreneurship researchers and anyone interested in entrepreneurship-related research findings. Yet, many years have past since the last thorough review of research design and construct measurement practices. Thus, it is unknown whether there is a gap between what is currently being done versus what needs to be done. In this article, authors use a two-study approach involving a content analysis of published empirical research and a survey of experts within the field to assess the current state of practices. Their findings indicate that, in general, research design and construct measurement practices continue to improve; however, there are some issues that still need to be resolved. Authors lay out key implications and provide several suggestions to help resolve these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of structural-equation modeling (SEM) in strategic-management research has grown dramatically during recent years. Although this statistical technique offers researchers a valuable tool for testing hypothesized models, certain challenges accompany the use of SEM. The current article examines one of these challenges, equivalent models, and its prevalence in strategy research. An equivalent model is an alternative model that fits the data equally well, thus producing the same covariance or correlation matrix but often differing significantly in theoretical interpretation. We examined the application of SEM in 109 strategic-management studies and found that equivalent models are a cause for concern in most strategic-management studies. Using a published article, we also provide a statistical demonstration of the potential effect of equivalent models. This article highlights both the extent of potential equivalent models in strategy research and the possible effect of such models on strategic-management theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]