An Assessment of Validity in Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research

Based on an analysis of empirical articles published in the academic literature between 1999 and 2003, we examined the current state of the small business and entrepreneurship research in terms of its validity. We collected 275 relevant publications in order to explore the small business and entrepreneurship field with respect to internal validity, external validity, construct validity, and statistical conclusion validity. Our aim was to gain insight into the dominant methodological and statistical practices that currently shape the field, shed light on possible gaps, and compare these observations with the findings in the management literature.