The Cogs and Wheels of Cultural Entrepreneurship: The Becoming of New Possibilities

Cultural entrepreneurship—that is, the cultural dynamics of entrepreneurship, innovation, and change—has attracted significant interest across business, sociology, and creative industries scholarship. However, these disciplines have evolved along separate trajectories, each establishing its own distinct research tradition. This fragmentation has hindered the development of an integrative understanding of how culture shapes, and is shaped by, entrepreneurial action. Drawing on 301 publications spanning over 40 years, we develop a framework that unites three distinct traditions of cultural entrepreneurship research focused on the mobilization, production, and expression of culture. We argue that these traditions, though developed separately, share a fundamental interest in the cultural means and processes that explain the becoming of new possibilities—that is, how novel ideas, products, and organizations come into being and gain recognition. By systematizing the outcomes that each tradition prioritizes and revealing their interconnections, we expose how entrepreneurial action draws on, transforms, and expresses culture. This integration offers a comprehensive understanding of culture as both the medium and outcome of entrepreneurial action, as actors work toward the realization of new possibilities.