Western perspectives on entrepreneurship and their sensitivity in the context of Asian cultures

Authors

Helen R. Gamage, Central Queensland University
Ananda Wickramasinghe, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

76340

Publication Details

Gamage, H. R. & Wickramasinghe, A. (2012). Western perspectives on entrepreneurship and their sensitivity in the context of Asian cultures. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 17 (4), 525-537.

Abstract

This paper explores western perspectives and discursive practices rooted in entrepreneurship, and argue their limited applicability in non-western cultures. It appears that the western entrepreneurship paradigm does not draw on the deep-rooted settings in society and culture of many developing countries. As a result, indigenous entrepreneurial realities are not well understood. The methods employed to transform western ideologies into other cultural settings were ineffective as they were not developed to be flexible to contextual variations. The different disciplinary perspectives and the reductionist approach of the western paradigm resulted in limited returns to entrepreneurship programmes since one disciplinary perspective can never handle all relevancies of entrepreneurial holism. It may be better to seek a context-sensitive alternative approach.