Framing entrepreneurial coaching: what do we know and what do we need to know?

In order to contrast the fragmentation of the Entrepreneurial Coaching (EC), this study aims to improve our understanding of the conceptual boundaries of EC by investigating how previous studies have conceptualized it along four relevant dimensions that characterize the entrepreneurial phenomenon: entrepreneurial process, context, outcomes, and target. We conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) to collect existing works on EC. Overall, the 85 selected papers were analysed with a Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) that allowed us to highlight relevant research themes for each of the four dimensions. The findings, organized in a conceptual framework, reveals that EC is an intervention that involves various targets of individuals, aspiring entrepreneurs or those who wish to develop entrepreneurial competencies, assisting them in achieving various goals related to their entrepreneurial journey or work conditions, within different contexts (incubators or 2 formal training settings). This work is one of the first attempt to systematize previous empirical and conceptual studies on EC that considers various elements of the entrepreneurial activity related to its process, targets, contexts and outcomes. Thus, our conceptual framework is a first attempt to define the EC boundaries that extend and complement current conceptualizations of EC.