Bibliometric approach to inclusive entrepreneurship: what has been written in scientific academia?

Abstract

Purpose The year 2020 was heavily marked by an unprecedented pandemic affecting society as a whole. However, under-represented groups may have seen their financial and social situation affected differently from other groups. Thus, it was found that in the literature, the term inclusive entrepreneurship, which addresses these issues, was fragmented in view of its similarity and association with social entrepreneurship, inclusive business and sustainability. In this sense, this paper aims to map the scientific knowledge on this topic. Design/methodology/approach To fulfil this aim, a systematic literature review was supported by bibliometrics (performance analysis and scientific mapping) and by the use of the software Bibliometrix R and VoSviewer. Findings The results obtained show that in the Web of Science, there are 121 documents related to this topic whose content analysis revealed that they are distributed between sustainability, entrepreneurship and inclusive entrepreneurship in the close triple association. Practical implications The main contributions of this study are the connection established between the three concepts and the emergence of continuing to develop research on inclusive entrepreneurship, given its binary function: employment generation for disadvantaged groups and inclusive business creation. Originality/value The relevance of this bibliometric analysis stands out, providing the positioning of academics on the importance of leveraging emerging research on this topic, not only in poor countries but also in others.