Abstract:

From strategic foresight and innovation governance to sustainability transitions and artificial intelligence, organisations are increasingly portrayed as actors that anticipate, and shape desirable futures. Yet much of this literature treats the future as either a managerial tool or a policy objective. Less attention has been given to how desirable futures are constructed and to the role of entrepreneurial agency. Drawing on a bibliometric analysis of 668 Scopus-indexed journal articles (1990-2025) in business and management, the study combines co-word network analysis with temporal mapping to identify four conceptual clusters and four stages of conceptual evolution. The findings show a market shift from firm-level strategic projection toward institutionally coordinated governance, normatively grounded sustainability transitions and, most recently, technologically accelerated future-making. We contribute an integrative account of desirable futures as a nexus between strategic intent, normative coordination, and agency, and propose a research agenda positioning entrepreneurial agency as a mechanism through which desirable futures are articulated and legitimated under accelerated uncertainty.

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Entrepreneurship

Keywords: Entrepreneurship Theories;International Entrepreneurship;Entrepreneurship and climate change;Informal Economy & the "Dark Side" of Entrepreneurship

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Dr. Vehap Kola