What If We Took Entrepreneurship Practice Seriously? Prescriptive Theorizing from Explanatory Models for Practical Implications

Authors:
Dean A. Shepherd, University of Notre Dame
Johan Wiklund, Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University


Journal:
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (forthcoming)


Summary:
This editorial proposes a six-step framework enabling entrepreneurship scholars to translate their explanatory research findings into rigorous, actor-specific, and testable practical prescriptions for entrepreneurs and their stakeholders.


Research Questions:
1. How can entrepreneurship scholars generate rigorous prescriptive practical implications from explanatory research models?
2. How does prescriptive theorizing differ from explanatory theorizing, and how does it relate to other approaches for producing actionable knowledge (e.g., design science, translational research)?
3. Under what conditions is prescriptive theorizing ethically appropriate, and when should prescriptions be withheld entirely?


What we know:
Entrepreneurship research excels at explaining how and why entrepreneurial phenomena unfold, but rarely translates those explanations into rigorous guidance for practitioners. A systematic review of articles published in JBV and ETP in 2024–2025 found that 53% of JBV articles and 26% of ETP articles offered no explicit practical implications, and many others offered only generic, non-actionable recommendations. Entrepreneurs, policymakers, and communities facing real problems need more than explanations—they need structured, grounded guidance for action.


Novel Findings:
The paper develops and illustrates a six-step prescriptive theorizing framework: (1) start with a phenomenon-based problem; (2) identify focal actors and values; (3) define desired outcomes; (4) develop an implementation roadmap; (5) articulate reflexivity and boundary conditions; and (6) generate testable prescriptions. The framework is the first in entrepreneurship to require explicit identification of which actors can and cannot act on prescriptions, and to provide structured guidance—including a decision tree, checklist, and template—for when prescriptions should be withheld entirely.


Novel Methodology:
The framework is grounded in and illustrated through prior empirical work conducted by the authors across extreme research contexts (slum tourism, human trafficking, illegal markets) and research on entrepreneurship among individuals with ADHD, demonstrating applicability across highly varied research settings and actor types.


Implications for Practice:
Entrepreneurs and venture support organizations can use the framework to move beyond generic advice toward mechanism-grounded, sequenced action steps tailored to their specific contexts. The implementation roadmap component translates causal mechanisms identified in research into concrete, feasible actions for those with the agency to act on them.


Implications for Policy:
The framework helps researchers produce policy-relevant guidance directed at actors with genuine agency within specific institutional contexts, rather than generic recommendations. Policymakers can expect prescriptions that are bounded by realistic assessments of feasibility, cultural context, and power dynamics.


Implications for Society:
By bridging rigorous research and actionable guidance, the framework can help address pressing societal challenges—including exploitation, inequality, and neurodiversity in entrepreneurship—more effectively, while protecting vulnerable populations from prescriptions that could cause harm.


Implications for Research:
The framework calls on researchers to treat practical implications as a structured intellectual exercise with its own logic and standards. It provides authors, reviewers, and editors with concrete evaluation tools and opens new avenues for empirical testing of prescriptions through field experiments, quasi-experiments, and diary studies.


Full Citation:
Shepherd, D. A., and Wiklund, J. (forthcoming). What if we took entrepreneurship practice seriously? Prescriptive theorizing from explanatory models for practical implications. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.


Abstract:
Just because we undertake value-neutral research to explain an entrepreneurial phenomenon does not mean we cannot extend our work through engaging values to prescribe what entrepreneurs (and/or other focal actors) should do. In this editorial, we illustrate how scholars can generate and offer prescriptive theorizing. Specifically, scholars can generate practical implications by (1) focusing on a phenomenon-based problem; (2) identifying focal actors and values; (3) defining desired outcomes; (4) developing an implementation roadmap; (5) thinking about reflexivity and boundaries; and (6) generating testable prescriptions. We offer additional considerations about when and for whom this prescriptive theorizing is most appropriate.