Shaping and furthering core conversations in entrepreneurship research: Dean A. Shepherd recipient of the 2025 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research

For almost three decades, Professor Dean A. Shepherd has had a profound impact on scholarly developments within the international community of entrepreneurship researchers. His extraordinarily broad and methodologically diverse research has significantly shaped and advanced our understanding of key aspects of the entrepreneurial process, including venture capitalists’ decision-making, the pursuit of business opportunities through entrepreneurial action, and the determinants of small business performance. By engaging with topics such as entrepreneurial failure, emotions, and entrepreneurship in the face of adversity and challenging environmental conditions, he has pioneered the exploration of important but traditionally neglected questions in entrepreneurship research. As a mentor, he has inspired and supported new generations of young researchers in their quest for high-quality research. In this article, we review the major tenets of Professor Shepherd’s work and highlight his main contributions to entrepreneurship research.