Non-fungible token-enabled entrepreneurship: A conceptual framework

Abstract

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the world by storm. Initially started as an art/game experiment, the NFT has given rise to a new form of entrepreneurship in the virtual world with massive opportunities and affordances. However, research into the entrepreneurial aspect of NFTs and the role of agency in the process is limited. In this article, I examine the concept of NFT-enabled Entrepreneurship (or NFTE). I first identify the main characteristics of NFTs, then define NFTE and discuss the related assumptions, and finally propose a conceptual framework for NFTE and investigate its enablers. I conclude by proposing NFTE as a novel domain of entrepreneurship theory and practice with extensive new research opportunities, and the plausibility of using NFT as an alternative mode of knowledge production in which scholars become “NFT creators.”