An individual-level perspective on intrapreneurship: a review and ways forward

Intrapreneurship as a sub-field of entrepreneurship has increased in importance. Due to the crucial role of entrepreneurial employees with regard to innovation and competitive advantage, research has increased and various concepts have emerged. Despite the growing interest in the field, intrapreneurship is still lacking a clear classification of the related concepts as research has thus far been based on diverse theoretical approaches. Indeed, contributions in the field are fragmented, using various definitions. There is no systematic review providing an overview of the field. By distinguishing between corporate entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation and intrapreneurship, this paper clearly positions intrapreneurship as individual-level concept. Most prior research has been done at the organizational level, focusing on concepts such as corporate entrepreneurship, but research concentrating on individual intrapreneurial employees is rare. Therefore, this paper closes the gap by performing a systematic literature review and using a narrow focus to present the current state of research with regard to the individual-level perspective on intrapreneurship. The results of the review make it possible to identify five different research streams based on the analytical levels applied. The research streams examined used various lenses and cover business, technological and academic contexts. In a final step, the findings and possible research agendas are integrated in a model that serves as the basis for future research initiatives. Hence the paper offers the possibility of a clearer justification for future research and is a first step towards a holistic research model related to intrapreneurship.