What does “to fail” in entrepreneurship mean? Critical rereading of the literature
This article provides a critical review of a previous research paper that tends to reduce the complexity of entrepreneurial failure. This reduction is reflected on a unidimensional approach that focuses on the single financial facet of business failure, a binary approach that contrasts the well-performing firms with those that are failing, or a linear approach that explains entrepreneurial failure by the marginal influence of a limited number of factors. Articulated around three main approaches: the deterministic approach (environmental level of analysis), the organizational approach (firm level of analysis), and the psychological approach (individual level of analysis), this article provides a holistic approach to entrepreneurial failure by integrating strategic, managerial and social dimensions. Based on the configurational approach, this article also provides a typology that can be used as a conceptual framework for better understanding the multifactorial, multidimensional and multifaceted nature of entrepreneurial failure.