Special interest in decision making in entrepreneurship policy
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
ISSN: 1462-6004
Article publication date: 16 November 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the special interests of key decision makers in entrepreneurship policy formation at the national level. The core question is: what is the role that special interests play in a situation with significantly improved evidence through a growing number of high-quality international benchmark studies on entrepreneurial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
An ethnographic method is applied to analyse in depth the 2005 decision by the Danish Government to shift from a volume-oriented to a growth-oriented entrepreneurship policy. This decision process is an extreme case since Denmark has world-class evidence of its entrepreneurial performance.
Findings
Even in such a well-investigated country, which since 2000 has had a pioneering role in the development of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study and international register-based studies, the special interests of a few top-level politicians and civil servants have significantly influenced the decision to shift the overall policy. These special interests guided the interpretation of the ambiguous evidence provided by these two benchmark studies.
Practical implications
Policy makers are made aware of the need to take a critical view on international benchmark studies, asking what is studied and how and realising that “the truth” about a country’s entrepreneurial performance cannot be found in just one study.
Originality/value
The theoretical value of this paper is its challenge to the widespread rationality view in the entrepreneurship policy field and a deepened understanding of how the pursuit of special interests is related to ambiguous evidence and system-level rationality.
Keywords
Citation
Bager, T.E., Klyver , K. and Nielsen, P.S. (2015), "Special interest in decision making in entrepreneurship policy", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 680-697. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-07-2012-0083
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited