The jacks-of-all-trades theory: a survey

• Autor(a) principal: Millan, Cintia Alexandra dos Santos
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/15793
• topic: Entrepreneurship; Jacks-of-all-trades; Human capital; Employment choice; Survey; Empreendedorismo; Capital humano; Bibliometria

The economic importance of entrepreneurship - impact on growth, job creation, innovation - is well-established in the literature. In recent decades, a vast field of research has emerged aimed to identify the determinants of entrepreneurial entry and success. One of the main objectives is, in fact, to answer the following question: what are the characteristics of the entrepreneurs? Despite the complexity of this question, the importance of human capital is one of the most debated issues. In this context, the study of Edward Lazear (2004, 2005) provides a critical contribution, namely through the definition of a link between a balanced set of skills and the probability of participation in entrepreneurial activities. In this dissertation, we assume this work as starting point and develop a comprehensive review of the literature produced after (and linked to) the original contribution. In methodological terms, we concretize this objective through a mixed approach, combining a traditional survey (literature review) with bibliometric analysis.