1 Legitimacy across the university : yet another entrepreneurial challenge

Introduction It is hard enough to build a strong entrepreneurship program within a school of business. For a quarter of a century those who pursued such programs have faced questions about legitimacy. Is the field of entrepreneurship a unique domain of teaching and research ( Shane and Venkataraman, 2000; Busenitz et al., 2003)? Are the rigor, methods and cumulative nature of entrepreneurship research consistent with those observed in other academic disciplines (Aldrich and Baker, 1997; Low, 2001)? Has entrepreneurship research and teaching had real impact (Bygrave, 1994)? Is there consistent pedagogy for teaching the subject matter and is there consistent and rigorous training available to produce quality instructors (Brush et al., 2003)? Often perceived as lacking both sociopolitical legitimacy and cognitive legitimacy (Aldrich AND Fiol, 1993), many entrepreneurship academics have been thought of as ‘fools rushing in’ – by others who question their wisdom in devoting time and energy to a field that does not enjoy status as a ‘discipline’ (Ogbor, 2000), as well as sometimes even by themselves. Yet during this period entrepreneurship programs in business schools first blossomed, then experienced explosive growth. Entrepreneurship courses are now taught in more than 2000 universities in the US (Cone, 2008) and over 225 business schools offer majors or concentrations in the field (Katz, 2005). There are now a number of PhD programs conferring terminal degrees in entrepreneurship and many more in which entrepreneurship is a central facet of doctoral studies (Katz, 2007). The Entrepreneurship division of the Academy of Management was the fastest-growing division during the 1990s. Entrepreneurship journals have risen in impact factor ratings among peer-reviewed management journals (ISI Web of Knowledge, 2008), and the flow of manuscripts to these journals is significant. Whether we entrepreneurship academics are simply gluttons for punishment, relish the role of the underdog, possess some masochistic need for more academic abuse, or simply – like entrepreneurs themselves – see new opportunities and want to pursue them, now there is a fledgling effort across various academic institutions to broaden entrepreneurial education beyond the walls of the business school. A number of colleges and universities in the US and other countries are currently seeking to embed entrepreneurship education in the arts, performing arts, sciences, social sciences, humanities, medicine, and in the more generalized liberal arts environment. These efforts raise whole new dimensions of the legitimacy question.