Research on Women Entrepreneurs: Challenges to (and from) the Broader Entrepreneurship Literature?

This paper has three overarching objectives. The first is to document the development of the body of work known as women's entrepreneurship research. The second is to assess the contributions of this work, specifically vis-à-vis the broader entrepreneurship literature. The third is to discuss how this broader literature poses challenges (both difficulties as well as opportunities) for scholarship on female entrepreneurs. We approach these objectives from the standpoint of informed pluralism, seeking to explore whether and how women's entrepreneurship research offers extensions to—and can be extended by—general research on entrepreneurs and their ventures.     

OB and entrepreneurship: The reciprocal benefits of closer conceptual links

One widely accepted definition of the field entrepreneurship (Venkataraman, 1997, p. 6) suggests that it is “A scholarly field that seeks to understand how opportunities to bring into existence ‘future’ goods and services are discovered, created, and exploited, by whom, and with what consequences.” This definition indicates that entrepreneurship involves a complex process in which specific individuals recognize opportunities and then act to convert them into tangible economic benefits (e.g. by creating new ventures). It is the central thesis of this paper that entrepreneurs play a key role in this process and that because they do, OB — the branch of management science that focuses on human behavior — can contribute much to understanding the entrepreneurial process. More specifically, OB can help answer questions long addressed by entrepreneurship researchers such as these:

• 1.(1) Why do some persons but not others choose to become entrepreneurs?
• 2.(2) What factors influence entrepreneurs' success? and
• 3.(3) Why do some persons, but not others, recognize economically advantageous opportunities?

     

创业机会真能促进创业意愿产生吗——基于创业自我效能与感知风险的混合效应研究

本文在国内外研究的基础上,开发出了创业自我效能、感知风险、创业机会识别与创业意愿之间关系的概念模型。通过中国创业者的调查数据,检验了创业自我效能、感知风险对创业机会识别与创业意愿之间混合作用关系。研究结果表明,创业机会识别有助于创业意愿产生;创业自我效能在显著影响创业意愿的同时还具有显著的中介效应,但有调节的中介效应不显著;感知风险显著影响创业意愿,具有显著的调节效应的同时还具有显著的有中介的调节效应,这方面的效应在创业者感知损失上体现的尤为突出。     

Review of female immigrant entrepreneurship research: Past findings,gaps and ways forward

We conduct a review of the literature on entrepreneurship by females with an ethnic minority background based on immigration to a new country and focus on entrepreneurial resources, entrepreneurial strategies, outcomes, and context. The intersection of gender and ethnicity influences entrepreneurship in specific ways that we discuss. The literature review indicates that particular (human, social, and financial) resources help shape entrepreneurial strategies, which in turn result in particular outcomes at the individual, firm, and societal levels. These factors are influenced by the co-ethnic and host country cultural and institutional contexts that we review. Situating our study in the mixed embeddedness perspective, we organize and synthesize extant research on the business endeavors of female immigrant entrepreneurs and discuss important gaps that provide opportunities for future research. We also address policy and practice implications.     

Unterstützungsbedarfe ausländischer Existenzgründer/innen mit akademischem Hintergrund – eine explorative Studie

Academic migrant company founders have not been in the focus of entrepreneurship research in Germany so far. The Project “StartMiUp—support for academic entrepreneurs with migration background” is dealing with this target group in the context of the German IQ-Network. In an empiric study the project investigates the specific challenges in starting up business and the support requirements of academic migrant founders. The study includes the perspective of start-up consultants and entrepreneurs from the target group. The results point out the necessity to increase the intercultural awareness and the competence orientation of existing start up consultancy institutions.     

不充分就业感知对员工兼职创业投入的影响机制研究

基于情感-认知评价的理论视角,在控制了工作满意度路径之后,通过对311名兼职创业者的实证数据进行分析,探究了员工不充分就业感知的两个维度——资质过剩感和成长缺乏感对员工兼职创业投入的作用机理。研究结果表明:资质过剩感、成长缺乏感以及两者的交互作用会强化员工与本职工作的疏离感;工作疏离感正向影响员工兼职创业投入;工作疏离感在资质过剩感、成长缺乏感及其交互作用对兼职创业投入的影响中发挥了中介作用。     

Managing the external financing constraints of social enterprises: A systematic review of a diversified research landscape

Social enterprises, located between non-profit organisations and for-profit firms, often struggle to acquire external funding. An increasing amount of research on the external financing of social enterprises stems from a fragmented body of the literature anchored in a variety of subject areas (e.g. entrepreneurship, public sector management, general management and strategy). We systematically review 204 academic articles published between 1998 and 2021 to bridge the knowledge gaps in these subject areas by: (1) mapping the field of the external financing of social enterprises at the individual, organisational and institutional levels; (2) synthesising the findings to develop an overarching framework; and (3) discussing theoretically sound future research avenues. We find that research at the individual level focuses primarily on investors’ perspective of the ideal characteristics of a social entrepreneur. Research at the organisational level often addresses the dual logics of social enterprises and their impact on the successful financing of these businesses and the role of investor–investee collaboration. Research at the institutional level can be clustered into cultural, economic, political and legal factors. Overall, we stress the need for research that adopts an overarching view by considering all three levels of analysis simultaneously and using organisational and economic theories.     

Pathways to social value and social change: An integrative review of the social entrepreneurship literature

Social entrepreneurship has emerged as an important means of addressing grand challenges. Although research on the topic has accelerated, scholars have yet to articulate an overarching framework that links the different pathways taken by social entrepreneurs with the positive effects of these efforts. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a systematic literature review which enabled us to conceptually differentiate between social value and social change as distinct outcomes of social entrepreneurship and identify seven pathways for achieving these outcomes. Building on our analysis, we outline a research agenda for questions pertaining to: the dynamics between social value and social change; how contextual factors and social entrepreneurs influence various pathways; design principles of business models and innovations that facilitate social value and social change; and defining, measuring, and ensuring accountability for social value and social change.     

Institutional work through empathic engagement

A growing body of literature examines how actors engage with institutions and how they prompt institutional change and evolution. This article takes stock of this knowledge and contributes an affective dimension to the study of how institutional entrepreneurs achieve momentum and field-level impact. The article views institutional work as relational agency and conceptualises empathic engagement as a way for institutional entrepreneurs to relate affectively to other actors and induce cooperation. We demonstrate how empathic engagement by institutional entrepreneurs can nurture communities of practice that co-create change in institutional fields. Our argument hinges on the actors’ affective investment and advances the less developed non-cognitive dimension of institutional work. By integrating empathic engagement into institutional entrepreneurship, we demonstrate how institutional entrepreneurs nurture their ability to engage and cooperate with others to diffuse particular values through institutional work. This integration focuses on the way of knowing generated through empathic engagement: the ability to bring about a consensus by creating frames of reference and identities that others are enchanted by and subscribe to, as opposed to using coercive mechanisms.     

创业研究回顾与展望

创业实践因新兴技术驱动的经济社会环境变革而发生了重大变化,涌现出了不少组织和战略理论甚至是创业研究也难以回答的新现象和新问题,这些现象和问题在中国情境下表现得非常突出,但并没有引起学者们的足够重视。基于此,本文采用扎根理论的编码设计,开展2008~2018年间发表的1842篇国际顶级创业研究文献的统计分析,在描述和评价研究主题发展态势和进展基础上,归纳出以创业前因、创业实施、创业结果与创业情境为体系的创业研究主题框架,进一步提出未来研究趋势和中国情境下开展创业研究的建议。研究结果对于推动我国创业研究的深化发展并开展具有国际学术影响力的高水平研究有着重要的理论价值。     

Subsidiary Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Opportunity: An Institutional Perspective

A subsidiary's ability to identify opportunities in the host country and to subsequently exploit these opportunities could create competitive advantages for the Multinational Corporation. While research on subsidiary entrepreneurship has focused primarily on subsidiary-specific resources and capabilities, as well as environmental factors, the type of opportunities that the subsidiaries may find in the host environment has been underexplored. Drawing on the subsidiary entrepreneurship literature, institutional perspectives, and entrepreneurship research, this paper suggests that subsidiaries embedded in institutional contexts that are different from those of their home country have unique advantages that enable the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities. Accordingly, a theoretical framework is proposed, based on contingency perspectives on the different views of entrepreneurial opportunities in relation to business processes in the host country's institutional environment, vis-a-vis uncertainty levels and legitimacy requirements. In addition, appropriate strategic approaches are suggested, through which subsidiaries can exploit these entrepreneurial opportunities.     

Uncertainty Reduction Approaches,Uncertainty Coping Approaches,and Process Performance in Financial Services

Developing a better understanding of the impact of uncertainty on process performance has been recognized as an important research opportunity in service design ( Hill, et al., 2002 ). Within this general research stream, our study focuses on the question of what managers can do to most effectively address operational uncertainty and mitigate its negative effects. To begin to address this question, we report on an exploratory study using a sample of professionals in the financial‐services industry who acted as informants on 108 financial‐services processes. These professionals were sampled from a population of graduates of a university in the northeastern region of the United States who were employed in the financial‐services industry. Based on these processes, we empirically examine the relationship between responses to operational uncertainty and process performance after controlling for customer mix, other uncertainty sources, and process type characteristics. Our findings suggest that process improvement—an uncertainty reduction approach related to the internal functioning of the process—as well as several uncertainty coping approaches are associated with better performing processes. However, uncertainty reduction approaches related to customer involvement with, and demands on, the process are not associated with better performing processes. We discuss the implications of our findings for determining what actions managers can take to reduce the negative performance effects of operational uncertainty and how managers can decide which of these actions to take. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations of our study.     

What makes search fund entrepreneurship different in Europe?

Ownership transition is an increasingly relevant decision in small businesses because millions of owners in the largest world economies are reaching retirement age without a successor. As a result, entrepreneurship through acquisition—becoming an entrepreneur through the acquisition of an existing business and growing it much like a startup—is likely to accelerate in the coming years. In contrast to traditional entrepreneurship, where the entrepreneur comes up with an idea and then grows it into a company, the idea of entrepreneurship through acquisition is embedded in the acquired company. In this article, we share our findings from a research project that tracked first-time entrepreneurs looking to acquire businesses in four European countries. These entrepreneurs put in “sweat equity” and used the “search fund” model, whereby investors funded their search expenses and provided funds for an acquisition. However, implementing the search fund model, originally created in the United States, was not straightforward in Europe. Search funders faced novel challenges in investor-entrepreneur (i.e., principal-agent) relationships and the search process. Our study identifies these challenges, the responses from our search fund sample, the lessons learned, and a novel framework to conceptualize a search fund playbook specific to Europe. These experiences hold valuable lessons for those who pursue entrepreneurship through acquisition and help stimulate new research questions for scholars.     

The Concept of International Opportunity in International Entrepreneurship: A Review and a Research Agenda

Recent research in the field of international entrepreneurship (IE) has emphasized the concept of international opportunity. The entrepreneurial behaviors focused on international opportunities have been found to be critical in IE. International opportunities, however, are often depicted in rather abstract and unspecified ways, and the research suffers from narrow theoretical discussion in relation to the concept of opportunity. To address these issues, the authors draw from entrepreneurship research and present alternative conceptualizations of opportunities as a basis for more in‐depth study of international opportunities in IE. To further articulate a future research agenda, the authors review the state of knowledge on opportunities in the IE field by content‐analyzing articles published between 1989 and 2012. All the analyzed articles incorporate the concept of opportunity into their studies. It is found that, although the IE research has investigated many relevant elements, it is rather limited in the articulation of the conceptual features of international opportunities and opportunity‐focused behaviors. Building on these observations, the authors propose a definition of international opportunity and research questions and strategies to advance IE research on international opportunities.     

Serial Entrepreneurs

This study focuses on the dynamic nature of entrepreneurship through an analysis of serial entrepreneurs, those individuals who engage in multiple start-ups, management buyouts, management buy-ins and combinations of these activities. The paper develops a typology of habitual entrepreneurship and then examines serial entrepreneurs in detail as a subset of such entrepreneurs. The processes involved and the effects of individuals undertaking sequential ventures are analysed. The study identifies three types of serial entrepreneurial behaviour namely venture repeaters, organic serials and serial dealmakers, distinguished by the motivations and the methods used to develop their ventures. Case-study evidence from the study also indicates that the role of active investors varies according to the type of serial entrepreneur and venture.     

Advancing Theory in Entrepreneurship from the Lens of Operations Management

Early writings in economics describe the entrepreneur's role in terms of bearing the uncertainty inherent in new undertakings. Much of the research published in the pages of Production and Operations Management deals with management under uncertainty. The shared concerns over the impacts of multiple types of uncertainty suggest that research on Operations Management (OM) can play a role in the development of theory in entrepreneurship. We discuss aspects of such a role from two perspectives. First, we consider several topics in the OM literature that have clear applications or parallels in entrepreneurship. These topics include innovation, the management of technology, new product development, flexibility, and hedging strategies. Understanding these topical connections should aid in the development of tools and applications central to the practice of entrepreneurship. On another level, when we consider how the approaches to many of these topics in OM are grounded in theory adapted from Operations Research and Economics we argue that these same roots can be used as starting points for the development of theory in entrepreneurship. As examples, we will argue that the theoretical bases supporting robust optimization, stochastic dynamic programming, and even Total Quality Management can also serve as foundations of theories about the roles, practice, and behaviors of entrepreneurs.     

Narratives as Sources of Stability and Change in Organizations: Approaches and Directions for Future Research

Although narrative analysis has made significant advances in organization and management studies, scholars have not yet unleashed its full potential. This review provides an understanding of key issues in organizational narrative analysis with a focus on the role of narratives in organizational stability and change. We start by elaborating on the characteristics of organizational narratives to provide a conceptual framework for organizational narrative analysis. We elaborate on three key approaches to narrative analysis on stability and change: realist, interpretative, and poststructuralist. We then review several topic areas where narrative analysis has so far offered the most promise: organizational change, identity, strategy, entrepreneurship, and personal change. Finally, we identify important issues that warrant attention in future research, both theoretically and methodologically.     

从传统行业到产业互联网创新实践--许毅刚变革管理思想的演化过程研究

采用纵向案例研究,基于许毅刚从传统行业跨界到产业互联网的管理实践,探究了企业家在不同时期的变革管理思想及其演化过程。研究结果表明,企业家在传统行业实践时期,主要采用计划式变革管理思维,在产业互联网实践时期则主要采用持续性变革管理思维。企业家需要经历“冲突-回溯”的过程,实现从计划式变革管理向持续性变革管理的演化。此外,在产业互联网实践时期,克制承接、角色后退和即时复盘是企业家把握新趋势和激发组织活力与创造力的3个重要机制。研究结论从过程视角回答了持续性变革管理思维如何从传统计划式变革管理演变而来,为致力于传统行业转型的企业家和管理者转变思维方式、促进互联网实践提供了启示。     

坚持还是放弃? 基于前景理论的新生创业者承诺升级研究

坚持或者放弃创业是新生创业者面临的重要且艰难的抉择。已有研究主要基于理性决策的假设分析个体特征、创业活动以及创业环境对坚持或者放弃创业的影响。与已有研究不同,本文认为新生创业者的坚持不是完全理性的决策,其中存在承诺升级现象。研究基于前景理论(框架效应和反射效应)分析了坚持创业中的承诺升级,识别了可能的影响因素:前期投入时间、前期投入资金、创业计划的规范性、技术创业和心理预算,并利用面向中国新生创业者的动态跟踪调查数据(Chinese Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics,CPSED)进行了实证检验。针对两类样本(所有273个样本、没有盈利的182个样本)的实证研究取得了一致的结论 :前期投入的时间越多,新生创业者越倾向于坚持创业;前期是否投入资金以及创业计划的规范性对是否坚持创业的影响不显著;存在心理预算负向影响新生创业者的坚持;与非技术创业者相比较,技术创业者更倾向于坚持创业。     

Strategies and Tools for Entrepreneurial Resource Access: A Cross‐disciplinary Review and Typology

Given that gaining access to external resources is a critical component of entrepreneurial activity, a great deal of research has been done in an attempt to predict and explain this phenomenon. Unfortunately, this literature is largely scattered across a wide variety of somewhat disconnected research streams, which makes interpreting the insights that have been hitherto gained challenging. In response, the authors identify a sample of 76 relevant articles from the leading management and entrepreneurship journals that examine entrepreneurial access to resources. Using a narrative synthesis approach, they then organize these articles based on the strategies (projective and/or interpersonal) and tools (words, actions, associations and/or intangibles) by which entrepreneurs gain access to resources. Based on this categorization, the authors discuss the major themes in the extant literature and offer suggestions for how to move research on entrepreneurial access forward in the future.