The nature and focus of entrepreneurship research in France over the last decade: a French touch?

The first doctoral research in management science entirely devoted to entrepreneurship appeared in the mid-1980s (Torres, 2007, p. 102). Torres counts 11 doctorates defended between 1985 and 1995 and 39 for the 1996-2005 decade. Regularly cited in literature as a milestone in French doctoral entrepreneurship research is the PhD thesis of Bruyat (1993; entitled Creation d'entreprises: contributions epistemologiques et modelisation (7)). Doctoral research in entrepreneurship is indeed a recent phenomenon in management science as confirmed by Paturel (2004), who identified three PhD dissertations published between 1996 and 1997, and 22 between 2000 and 2005. Combining the Torres (2007) and the Paturel (2004) studies, we obtain a total of 55 doctoral dissertations. (8) Based upon this indicator, six universities have taken an important role in fostering entrepreneurship research and research tradition: Grenoble II, Lille I, Toulon-Var, Montpellier I, and Lyon II and III (Table 4).

The Nature of Doctoral Research. Paturel (2004), analyzing the methodological choices made by doctoral candidates, (9) presents findings that reveal a multitude of approaches, a high diversity of topics and the predominant use of primary data. Examining theory, data, methods, and themes, his key findings are summarized as follows:

* The entrepreneurial process is a popular general theme, but a "scattering" of research topics is observed (13 issues in 22 PhD dissertations; Table 5).

* French doctoral research is rather field-focused (only 10% of the PhDs were conducted without direct contact with entrepreneurs and firms).

* Deductive and inductive approaches dominate in contrast to the empirical/formal research design of U.S. studies.

* Snapshot analyses are used rather than longitudinal perspectives (respectively 80% and 20%); essentially primary data collection (samples, surveys, cases).

* Explanatory nature of most dissertations.

* A high proportion of dissertations are difficult to classify (mix of methods, data, etc.) or have an unclear epistemologicai positioning (constructivist, positivist).

The results of Paturel (2004) describe entrepreneurship as being a relatively young discipline in France. The broad variety and diversity of approaches, methods, and topics illustrate a lack of mainstream. Nevertheless, a preference for qualitative research designs points out a certain orthodoxy in terms of methodology. Empirical-formal approaches based upon quantitative data, which are the rule in U.S. entrepreneurship research (see Brush, Manolova, & Edelman in this issue), are rather an exception. Both Saporta (2003) and Paturel (2004) raise this issue and argue that, for the future, a higher proportion of quantitative methods would be beneficial for the field of entrepreneurship in France.

Research Outcomes Presented in Conferences and Published in Journals

Quantitative Evolution: Take-Off in the Mid-1990s with a Strong Growth in Volume. Before we analyze the nature and focus of entrepreneurship research during the last decade, we briefly retrace the quantitative evolution of the field in terms of research outcomes in journals and conferences. As an indicator, we first analyze the articles published in the small business journal RIPME from its first edition in 1988 to volume 18 in 2005 (Figure 1) and then complement this picture with the share that entrepreneurship research occupies in the small business and the CIFEPME entrepreneurship conference (1996-2004; Figure 2).

In the beginning, entrepreneurship-focused publications were a minor phenomenon in the 1988-established RIPME journal (Figure 1). Until 1996, 9 articles out of 10 were small business studies. Since 1996, a general trend began to be visible and in 1998 a first significant peak marked the take-off of the field. After a period of emergence and multiplication of research related to entrepreneurship (1985-1995), the following period can be described as "recognition" of the theme and the field (Marchesnay, 2007) or what we call "take-off" of entrepreneurship in terms of research outcomes in France. By 1998, more than 20% of the annual volume of the journal was related to entrepreneurship research. In 2000 the peak was reached with close to the half of all articles within the field. Despite significant inter-annual variations, the general trend is consistent.

The analysis of the CIFEPME conference confirms the trend visible through the RIPME journal. The constant increase in entrepreneurship papers underlines the position this field now holds in management science in France. From 7% in 1996, entrepreneurship papers occupied nearly 40% of the conference space by 2004. When we take into account the publishing period of a reviewed conference paper (1-3 years on average), we can expect to see a continuing and significant development of entrepreneurship articles in the RIPME and other French journals (Revue Francaise de Gestion, Gestion 2000, Finance Controle Strategie, etc.) in the near future.

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Both journal articles and conference papers have specificity in common: Firm size is a main criterion for French scholars. Entrepreneurship appears to be strongly linked to the type of organization, SMEs in general and microfirms in particular. The firm size of an SME is defined in France to be less than 250 employees and to fulfill turnover and independence criteria as per the European Union definition. In the United States, SMEs are generally considered as organizations with fewer than 500 employees. The 500-employee threshold is commonly used in France as a minimum size for large firms (Valentin, 1994, p. 3).

A Preference for Qualitative Approaches. As a whole, French scholars demonstrate a preference for qualitative methods for their research (Figure 3). Three out of four studies are using qualitative approaches. Barely 5% are based upon quantitative research methods, 17% are theoretical contributions to the field, and another 5% discuss methodological or epistemological issues. When we split the contributions into two categories, articles and papers, significant differences appear. While quantitative research is widely underrepresented in conferences, when it comes to publication in journals (RIPME, RENT), the proportion of this category is more than twice as important. This is an indicator of entry barriers to journal publication depending upon methodological criteria, for example empirical and quantitative research.

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The Thematic Focus of Entrepreneurship Research: The Process as Principal Theme. Using the Ucbasaran et al. (2001) framework, we classified the articles and papers of our sample (n = 253) into six themes and one additional category for contributions that could not be clearly attributed to one of these themes. The majority of papers, nearly one out of four, deal with the entrepreneurial process (Theme 3), discussing issues like opportunity recognition, resource acquisition, business strategies, etc. Theoretical antecedents of entrepreneurs are also a popular issue for French scholars (Theme 1: personalities, backgrounds, behavioral aspects, decision-making process, etc.). These two main themes account for more than 40% of all contributions (Table 6). Research about the entrepreneur (Theme 2), the organization (Theme 4), and the external environment (Theme 5) are less frequent. Studies related to firm survival, growth, or performance (Theme 6) appear (still) to be of minor importance.

However, the comparison of articles and conference papers again reveals differences between published research and work in progress that reflect to some extent pressing and actual issues of the French entrepreneurship research community. More than half of the articles in our sample (63.8%) deal with the process and the organization. Entrepreneur, environment, and outcomes together represent just slightly over 1 article out of 10 (14.9%). Antecedents and other themes account each for 10.6% of all articles. The analysis of themes explored in conference papers shows current research interests. In contrast to published research, a rise of research interest is measured for antecedents, entrepreneur, and environment (together 51.6% of all conference papers). This indicates that there might be more articles coming out in the near future related to these issues, while interest in the entrepreneurial process and the organization tends to decrease (45.6%). Regarding our sample, outcomes as a research theme are of minor importance.

A closer look at the issues explored in articles and papers of each theme confirms the scattering of entrepreneurship research, but also reveals that some topics currently discussed in international conferences such as gender issues, succession and family firms, social entrepreneurship, or sustainability of new firms are not yet of significant importance in the French entrepreneurship research community. Nevertheless, the 2006 and 2007 editions of the conferences in our sample indicate a certain tendency of convergence with those issues frequently studied in the international research community.

In sum, even if issues related to the entrepreneurial process still prevail in publication and conference space, themes like "theoretical antecedents" and the "external environment" appear to gain importance.

The International Visibility of French Entrepreneurship Research