The Historic Turn
The “historic turn” in management and organization studies has opened up space for more explicit engagement with historical theory and method. This section demonstrates how the field of entrepreneurship is increasingly influenced by cross-disciplinary conversations that embrace temporality, context, and narrative. It establishes a critical backdrop for how history can enrich entrepreneurship research, rather than simply serve as illustration or background.
Introduction
The emergence of Historical Entrepreneurship as a field can be situated within the broader “historic turn” in Management and Organization Studies. While interest in historical reasoning and methods within these disciplines has earlier antecedents, stretching back to the 1990s and earlier, it is since the 2000s that momentum has notably accelerated.
This renewed engagement with history has been marked by a wave of books, conferences, and high-profile special issues in leading journals (see Table below).
Journal | Title | Editors | Year | Volume (Issue) | Intro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Journal of Business Ethics | The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility | Robert Phillips, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Christian Stutz | 2020 | 166(2) | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04319-0 |
Business History | History in Organisation Studies | Behlül Üsdiken, Alfred Kieser | 2004 | 46(3) | https://doi.org/10.1080/0007679042000219166 |
Journal of Management Studies | Moving Forward by Looking Backward: Business History and Management Studies | Mary O'Sullivan, Margaret B. W. Graham | 2010 | 47(5) | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00923.x |
Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal | Context, Time, and Change: Historical Approaches to Entrepreneurship Research | R. Daniel Wadhwani, David Kirsch, Friederike Welter, William B. Gartner, Geoffrey G. Jones | 2020 | 14(1) | https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1346 |
Academy of Management Learning and Education | New Times, New Histories of the Business School | Patricia Genoe McLaren, Todd Bridgman, Stephen Cummings, Christina Lubinski, Ellen O’Connor, J.-C. Spender and Gabrielle Durepos | 2021 | 20(3) | https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2021.0318 |
Family Business Review | History-Informed Family Business Research: An Editorial on the Promise of History and Memory Work | Roy Suddaby, Brian S. Silverman, Peter Jaskiewicz, Alfredo De Massis, Evelyn R. Micelotta | 2023 | 36(1) | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08944865231157491 |
Business History | Humanistic Approaches to Change: Entrepreneurship and Transformation | Lubinski, Christina
Wadhwani, R. Daniel
Gartner, William B.
Rottner, Renee
| 2024 | 66(2) | |
Journal of International Business Studies | Integrating Historical Approaches in International Business: Moving Beyond “History Matters” | Stephanie Decker,
Geoffrey Jones,
Klaus Meyer,
Catherine Welch
| Forthcoming | tbd | |
Journal of Management Studies | Historical Perspectives on Deglobalization’s: Antecedents, Outcomes, and Managerial Responses | Marcelo Bucheli,
Andrew Smith, Heidi Tworek
| Forthcoming | tbd | |
Academy of Management Review | What Is Organizational History? Toward a Creative Synthesis of History and Organization Studies | Paul C. Godfrey, John Hassard, Ellen S. O’Connor, Michael Rowlinson, Martin Ruef | 2016 | 41(4) | https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840618814867 |
Organization Studies | History as Organizing: Uses of the Past in Organization Studies | R. Daniel Wadhwani, Roy Suddaby, Mads Mordhorst, Andrew Popp | 2018 | 39(12) | https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3118 |
Strategic Management Journal | History-informed Strategy Research: The Promise of History and Historical Research Methods in Advancing Strategy Scholarship | Nicholas S. Argyres, Alfredo De Massis, Nicolai J. Foss, Federico Frattini, Geoffrey Jones, Brian S. Silverman | 2020 | 41(3) | https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3118 |
Together, these developments signal a growing recognition of the value of historical approaches in understanding dynamic processes such as innovation, change, and entrepreneurial action.
Key References
Wadhwani, R. D., Kirsch, D., Welter, F., Gartner, W. B., & Jones, G. G. 2020. Context, Time, and Change: Historical Approaches to Entrepreneurship Research. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 14(1): 3-19.
This agenda-setting article argues for integrating historical reasoning into entrepreneurship research by emphasizing context, time, and change. It introduces a framework for using history to theorize change and entrepreneurial agency over time.
Rowlinson, M., Hassard, J., & Decker, S. 2014. Research Strategies for Organizational History: A Dialogue Between Historical Theory and Organization Theory. Academy of Management Review, 39(3): 250-274.
A foundational piece that outlines three distinct strategies for conducting organizational history: analytic narrative, historical explanation, and poststructuralist history. It bridges disciplinary divides between historians and organizational theorists.
Godfrey, P., Hassard, J., O’Connor, E., Rowlinson, M., & Ruef, M. 2016. What is Organizational History? Toward a Creative Synthesis of History and Organization Studies. Academy of Management Review 41(4): 590-608.
Proposes a synthetic framework for organizational history that integrates historiographical and organizational theory insights. Emphasizes the epistemological and methodological challenges of working across disciplines.
Bucheli, M & Wadhwani, R.D. 2014. Organizations in Time: History, Theory, Methods: New York: Oxford University Press.
This influential volume brings together scholars to explore how history can be more systematically integrated into organizational theory. Includes chapters on historical methodology, narrative, and temporality, making it a key resource for historically inclined researchers.
Kipping, M., & Üsdiken, B. 2014. History in Organization and Management Theory: More Than Meets the Eye. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1): 535-588.
Offers a critical review of how history has been used in management theory. It classifies modes of historical engagement and calls for more nuanced, methodologically sound uses of historical research in organizational studies.
Decker, S., Hassard, J., & Rowlinson, M. 2021. Rethinking History and Memory in Organization Studies: The Case for Historiographical Reflexivity. Human Relations, 74(8): 1123-1155.
Advocates for a more reflexive and historiographically informed approach to organizational memory and history. It emphasizes the politics of remembering and forgetting in organizational narratives.
Kieser, A. 1994. Why Organization Theory Needs Historical Analyses—and How This Should Be Performed. Organization Science, 5(4): 608-620.
An early and compelling argument for integrating historical analysis into organization theory. Kieser outlines practical strategies for doing so while cautioning against ahistorical theorizing.
Zald, M. 1996. More Fragmentation? Unfinished Business in Linking the Social Sciences and the Humanities. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(2): 251-261.
A prescient reflection on the need to bridge social science and humanities approaches, particularly by incorporating historical depth into organizational research. A touchstone for the historic turn.
Perchard, A., MacKenzie, N. G., Decker, S., & Favero, G. 2017. Clio in the Business School: Historical Approaches in Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship. Business History, 59(6): 904-927.
Reviews how history has been used in different business school disciplines. The authors argue for more explicit methodological engagement with historical scholarship, especially in strategy and entrepreneurship