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The COVID-19 crisis triggered by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the infection control measures taken have extended beyond affecting health issues to impact economic activity worldwide. In this structured literature review, the focus is specifically on how the crisis has impacted entrepreneurial activity. The review focuses on the early empirical literature that primarily relied on data collected during the first wave of the pandemic. These empirical results are synthesized in a thematic literature review. The entrepreneurship research on the COVID-19 crisis is marked by three perspectives: the uncertainty perspective, the resilience perspective, and the opportunity perspective. To obtain a complete picture of the effects of the crisis on entrepreneurship, these three perspectives should be considered in combination. We provide implications for future research, policymakers, and entrepreneurs discussing how the interplay of the reviewed perspectives provides paths toward creative reconstruction, that is, the opportunity to move beyond pre-crisis levels of innovation and entrepreneurial action.

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Purpose Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been viewed almost exclusively through the lens of profit-driven firms. However, individuals engage in entrepreneurship not only for economic reasons but also to enrich a community or to advance society. Drawing on upper echelons theory, the purpose of this paper is to address this issue by proposing that founders’ social identities shape the strategic choices of their ventures. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the data from 318 founders in the early stages of their entrepreneurial activity, the study applies partial least squares structural equation modeling to empirically test whether founders’ social identities influence their ventures’ EO. Findings The findings of the current research show that founders whose dominant purpose is the creation of value for others are more likely to launch ventures oriented toward innovation. On the other hand, ventures of founders driven by economic self-interest accept more risk, which leads to higher performance outcomes on the enterprise, community and societal levels. Originality/value The study enhances the EO discussion by adding social identity theory as a way to explain different levels of EO in firms and answers the call for more diversity in EO–performance measurement by applying specific outcomes on the enterprise, community and societal levels to investigate whether a firm’s EO leads to the desired outcomes.