Is Entrepreneurship a no Game for Ph.Ds?

Out of 740 recognised universities in India, only 66 have awarded PhDs in Entrepreneurship in last 16 years. While 20,271 doctoral studies in Social Sciences were done in the last 16 years, only 177 PhDs were awarded in Entrepreneurship. Universities in Maharashtra awarded the largest number of PhDs in this period with 25 theses, followed by Karnataka with 18, Madhya Pradesh with 15, and Andhra Pradesh & Telangana with 12 each.

These were some of the highlights of the research titled ‘Study of Entrepreneurial Research and Doctoral Dissertations in Indian Universities’ done by Dr. Kavita Saxena and Mr. Ganapathi Batthini of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), an acknowledged national resource Institute for Entrepreneurship Education, Research, Training and Institution Building.   

The objectives of this study were to identify the nature and direction of entrepreneurship research in last 16 years; to identify quantitative growth of entrepreneurship research as compared to social sciences; to know the contribution of universities in awarding of doctoral degrees in entrepreneurship; and to find out the state-wise, gender-wise and language-wise distribution of research in entrepreneurship. The primary source of data for this study was obtained from the official publication of Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi for the period 2000 to 2015.

Explaining the research undertaken, Dr. Kavita Saxena, Associate Faculty, EDII, said, “Entrepreneurship as an area of study is gradually gaining momentum and the discipline is moving towards academic legitimisation. However, there is still a long road to be travelled in the area of entrepreneurial research and doctoral education. This study highlights the growth and development of entrepreneurship research in Indian universities for the last 16 years.”

“Though the current study identifies women entrepreneurship as the most preferred area of research, further research can be done to identify other areas in which doctoral dissertations can be done in Indian universities. As the entire country is geared up for entrepreneurial movement, state level entrepreneurship policies can be studied. Research implications can be drawn by comparing those policies with the number and type of Ph.D dissertations undertaken in different states,” added Dr. Saxena. Out of the 177 doctoral theses, 104 were done by male researchers and remaining 73 by female researchers. English was the preferred language with 167 PhD theses, and remaining 10 were done in Hindi.

Suggestions derived from this study are: Indian universities should increase availability of Ph.D programmes and concentrate in providing methodological education, training and research in entrepreneurship. Department of doctoral research can establish linkages with existing corporate and family business enterprises so that opportunities for evidence-based research can be explored. This can be used to overcome the divide between knowledge developed in the field of entrepreneurship and its use in practice.

As there is a shortage of experts/PhD guides in the domain of entrepreneurship, collaborative industry-academia mentorship support should be arranged for scholars in Entrepreneurship. Doctoral programmes in Entrepreneurship can be promoted as a platform to connect researchers with start-ups who are keen on conducting market research for business opportunity identification, business plan preparation and other important areas of starting an enterprise.