Beyond necessity and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship: some case study evidence in Ukraine

This paper evaluates critically the popular assumption that it is possible to differentiate between opportunity- and necessity-driven entrepreneurs. Reporting empirical evidence from Ukraine on the motives of a particular group of entrepreneurs, namely those operating wholly or partly in the informal economy, this paper reveals how attempting to squeeze the motives for entrepreneurship into one side or the other of this dichotomy leads to an over-simplification of entrepreneurs' motives, 80% of cases both necessity and opportunity motives are involved, and over time there is often a shift from necessity- to opportunity-oriented factors. The paper thus concludes by calling for this differentiation between necessity- and opportunity-driven entrepreneurs to be transcended and replaced by a richer and more dynamic understanding of the diverse and complex motives that underpin entrepreneurship.