The emergence and impact of the entrepreneurship industry

Abstract This special issue introduces the concept of the “entrepreneurship industry” (EI), a rapidly expanding global sector comprising actors, services, and infrastructures that promote and commodify entrepreneurial activity. Moving beyond traditional demand-side views of entrepreneurship, the issue explores how EI shapes entrepreneurial behavior through cultural norms, institutional structures, and policy interventions. The six featured articles examine diverse facets of EI, including its cultural biases, framing dynamics, venture production regimes, intermediary roles, and sector-specific support mechanisms. Collectively, these contributions reveal how EI influences who becomes an entrepreneur, what ventures are legitimized, and how success is defined. The issue also highlights the paradoxes and unintended consequences of EI, such as exclusionary practices and innovation theater. By conceptualizing entrepreneurship as an industry, the issue opens new avenues for research into the socio-political construction of entrepreneurial ecosystems and calls for more inclusive, context-sensitive approaches in policy, education, and practice.