Per Davidsson

Per Davidsson (born 5 April 1958) is an entrepreneurship professor that holds Swedish and Australian citizenship. He is currently a professor of entrepreneurship at Jönköping International Business School and Queensland University of Technology Business School where he served as the Talbot Family Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship and Founding Director of the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research (ACE) during 2010–2018. He serves on the editorial boards for several journals and has participated in many research programs including the Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence. On March 22, 2023, he was named the 2023 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research.

Early life and career

Davidsson grew up in Sandviken, a small, one-employer steel town in Sweden. He received his BA in Business Administration in 1984, his MSc. in 1987 and his PhD in Economic Psychology in 1989 at Stockholm School of Economics. In 1990 he moved to Umeå University, where he got involved in an international-collaborative project with the entrepreneurship academics David Storey and Paul Reynolds, which ignited his international career. In 1994, he moved to take part in the start-up of Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) to start a high-class business school with an entrepreneurship focus. During this time, Davidsson played a significant role in the creation of a strong research environment within JIBS; it has been identified as second in the world in entrepreneurship and first in Scandinavia in business research.

Throughout his career, Davidsson has served as professor in Sweden and Australia and held academic side appointments in North America, South America, and Asia. He has served as editor and reviewer in high-profile scientific journals. In 1992 his first research leadership role was as Director of the Transportation Research Unit at Umeå University. At JIBS he served as Head of the Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Management Department and led the PEG (Program on Entrepreneurship and SMEs) research program. At QUT he was the founding director of the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research (ACE).

Honors and awards

Recipient of the 2023 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. Recipient of the "Mentor Award" from the 3,000 member strong Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management, 2013 Member-elected Chair of the primary professional association, The Entrepreneurship Division (ENT) of the Academy Management (AoM), (2010/2011, as part of a 5-year service leadership cycle) Greif Research Impact Award for most Impactful Entrepreneurship Article Published in 2003 (w. Benson Honig), 2009 The 2009 Journal of Business Venturing Award for most Impactful Article published in 2003 (w. Benson Honig) Inducted into 21st Century Entrepreneurship Research Fellows, a select group of 15 scholars established by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres to advance entrepreneurship research worldwide, 2017

Invited keynote speaker at 32 international conferences

Selected articles

Data below is received from Scopus Entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities: A review, model and research agenda, 2006 Arriving at the high-growth firm, 2003 Researching Entrepreneurship: Conceptualization and Design. New York: Springer. Where do they come from? prevalence and characteristics of nascent entrepreneurs, 2000

Recently published Steffens, P., Baker, T., Davidsson, P. & Senyard, J. (2023). When is less more? Boundary conditions of effective entrepreneurial bricolage. Journal of Management, 49(4), 1277–1311 Davidsson, P. (2023). Ditching discovery-creation for unified venture creation research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(2) 594–612. Davidsson, P., Grégoire, D., & Lex, M. (2021). Venture idea assessment (VIA): Development of a needed concept, measure, and research agenda. Journal of Business Venturing, 36(5). Kimjeon, J. & Davidsson, P. (2021). External enablers of entrepreneurship: A review and agenda for accumulation of strategically actionable knowledge. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. Davidsson, P. & J. Grünhagen, J.H. (2021). Fulfilling the process promise: A review and agenda for new venture creation process research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(5) 1083–1118. Davidsson, P., Recker, J. & von Briel, F. (2020). External enablement of new venture creation: A framework. Academy of Management Perspectives, 34(3), 311–332. von Briel, F., Davidsson, P., & Recker, J. (2018). Digital technologies as external enablers of new venture creation in the IT hardware sector. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42(1), 47–69.