Rural entrepreneurship as a phenomenon is gaining its momentum in the contemporary research. There have been numerous attempts to define ‘rural entrepreneurship’, develop a theoretical framework in analyzing ‘rural entrepreneurship’, conceptualize ‘rural’, and bridge the gap between rural entrepreneurship focused on developed versus countries in  development within academic research and public/policy debates. In order to respond to these calls, space seems to have a paramount role in contextualizing entrepreneurship research and theories in the rural realm. Therefore, with this paper, I would like to contribute to the debate by highlighting the role of ‘space’ as a context in rural entrepreneurship as well as emphasizing the gap in conceptualizing rural within academic research and public policy debates.

The review and analysis of the literature on rural entrepreneurship is conducted through identification of peer-reviewed research articles on rural entrepreneurship published in leading journals on entrepreneurship, rural entrepreneurship and rural studies. In addition, the selection of reports of OECD, UNDP and EC is conducted by searching the exact match of ‘rural development’. The research articles are selected by searching exact match of ‘rural entrepreneurship’ in the journals’ search engines from the following journals: ‘Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (ERD)’, ‘Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (ETP)’, ‘The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation’, ‘International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research’, ‘European Planning Studies (EPS)’, ‘Journal of Rural Studies (JRS)’ and ‘Sociologia Ruralis’. During this process, each article was reviewed to ensure that it addressed the topic adequately to be included in the review. Firstly, identification of common views on spatial dimension in rural entrepreneurship provided by various authors and comparing them within the entrepreneurship journal and journal of rural studies is conducted. Secondly, a comparison of views among various authors between the two journals on space as a context is conducted. Lastly, a comparison across academic research and public/policy debate on space in terms of location in rural areas is performed in order to identify the similarities and differences as well as key policy implications. 

Contribution of this study is twofold: firstly, it is to provide a more in-depth understanding of how rural is conceptualized in academic research and public policy discussions. Secondly, it is to provide a more thorough understanding of space as a context in rural entrepreneurship, along with its constraints and benefits regarding entrepreneurial activities in rural settings.