The purpose of the SIG Entrepreneurship is to develop an ongoing and constructive dialogue among entrepreneurship scholars to conduct research that is relevant for entrepreneurship theory and practice in the contemporary world. The SIG Entrepreneurship aims at promoting research and networking interests in individual and collaborative forms of entrepreneurship by providing a wide-ranging, engaged and internationally focused forum to discuss and develop research and practice in the field. We put a distinct focus on the key European feature – ‘context matters’ – why we try in all activities to promote and stimulate what ‘European’ might mean in any given context and any approach of entrepreneurship research.
SIG OFFICERS (2022-2023):
SIG Chair, Luca Gnan (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy) luca.gnan@uniroma2.it
SIG Programme Chair, Diego Matricano (Università degli Studi della Campania, Italy) diego.matricano@unicampania.it
Past Chair, Marzena Starnawska (University of Warsaw, Poland) mstarnawska( at )wz.uw.edu.pl
Past Chair, Matthias Raith (Otto-von-Guericke University, Germany) raith@ovgu.de
Past Chair, Massimiliano M. Pellegrini (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy) dr.massimiliano.pellegrini@gmail.com
Past Chair, Lucrezia Songini (Eastern Piedmont University, Italy) lucrezia.songini@uniupo.it
Past Chair and Entrepreneurship SIG Founder, Hans Lundberg (Linnaeus University, Sweden) hans.lundberg@lnu.se
Communication Officers
Marzena Starnawska (University of Warsaw, Poland) mstarnawska(at)wz.uw.edu.pl,
Giulia Flamini (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy), giulia.flamini@uniroma2.it,
Damiano Petrolo(University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy damiano.petrolo@uniroma2.it,
GT03_00 Entrepreneurship General Track
The SIG Entrepreneurship General Track aims to develop an ongoing and constructive dialogue among entrepreneurship scholars to conduct research that is relevant for entrepreneurship theory and practice in the contemporary world. This general track is intended to capture new and emerging research areas within as well as classical areas of study of entrepreneurship. In line with our mission – methodological, theoretical and empirical pluralism in entrepreneurship research – we welcome contributions from all areas related to entrepreneurship that are not explicitly covered by the other tracks sponsored by the SIG.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people, Goal 4: Quality education, Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institution
Lucrezia Songini, University of Eastern Piedmont, lucrezia.songini@uniupo.it
ENTREPRENEURSHIP SIG STANDING TRACKS
ST03_01/ST06_01/ST13_01 – Business Model – Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurial Venturing (co-sponsored ENT / INNO / SM)
(co-sponsored by Entrepreneurship SIG-03, Innovation SIG-06 and Strategic Management SIG-13)
he business model topic attracts continued interest in business research and practice (Massa et al., 2017; Foss & Saebi, 2017, Zott, Baden-Fuller and Mangematin; 2015: Spieth et al., 2014). However, despite ongoing research efforts to understand the business model and its role in firm performance, scholars face persistent questions about constituent components, sequences and contingencies for the process of business model innovation, impacting strategic intents of the firm to develop new value-creating and value-capturing activities.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Patrick Spieth , University of Kassel, spieth@uni-kassel.de
ST03_02 – Entrepreneurial Processes
The entrepreneurial process is a combination of both planned and emergent actions. For the individual entrepreneur, predetermined actions can be supplanted by rash decisions, and personal inclinations may need to be adjusted to fit with social expectations. At the same time, entrepreneurs rarely act in isolation; rather processes evolve through interactions and important processes require collaboration, teamwork and even participation at community levels. Yet, often these entrepreneurial processes – both on the individual and collective level – remain little understood. Accordingly, scholars often consider entrepreneurial processes as black boxes or opaque bundles that need to be unpacked.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Diego Matricano, Department of Management, Università degli Studi della Campania, diego.matricano@unicampania.it
ST03_03 – Entrepreneurial Decision Making and Behaviour
The creation, success, longevity, and survival of SMEs are deeply linked with the effectiveness of internal and external decision-making processes. When entrepreneurs make decisions, they are especially influenced by their emotions, passions, values, beliefs, and cognition; at the same time with their decisions they craft the organization and support systems that will bound other decisions. There is great potential to improve scholarly understanding of these mechanisms in entrepreneurial decision-making, such as trust, rationality, intuition, conflicts, and spirituality. To explore promising research gaps, the track welcomes novel research approaches and innovative methods in entrepreneurial behaviour and decision-making, both conceptual and empirical.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Andrea Caputo , University of Trento & University of Lincoln, andrea.caputo@unitn.it
ST03_04 – Entrepreneurial Finance
Entrepreneurial companies are the backbone of economic development. Yet, these firms suffer from a lack of internal finance, which limits their growth and survival. Hence, the availability of external finance is a key element in entrepreneurial ecosystems. The recent shift towards digital technologies, together with the changes brought by COVID-19 pandemic, has accelerated the development of new types of entrepreneurial finance, such crowdfunding platforms, mini-bonds, bitcoins, ICOs, etc., or what is called the Fintech industry. It is crucial to understand how these new forms of financing influence the development of entrepreneurial firms and interact with traditional financial players.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Anita Quas , University of Milan, anita.quas@unimi.it
ST03_05 – Entrepreneurship, Regions & Regional Development
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Marina Dabic , University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business, mdabic@net.efzg.hr
ST03_06 – Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship
There has been an undeniable “sustainability turn” in business and in the market that is increasingly absorbing ideas about social change, environmental change, circular economy, stakeholders’ involvement, and social/sustainable enterprise. This track calls for papers investigating the impact of social and environmental concerns in the strategies of new ventures or existing ones, and in the formation of social/sustainable enterprises and other forms of social movements in business to meet the grand challenges facing societies all over the world. We also welcome papers investigating the reverse relation, i.e., the influence of entrepreneurial activities on institutional, environmental and societal contexts. The track runs competitive and development paper sessions.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty, Goal 2: Zero hunger, Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people, Goal 4: Quality education, Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation, Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 10: Reducing inequalities, Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, Goal 13: Climate action, Goal 14: Life below water, Goal 15: Life on land, Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Marzena Starnawska , University of Warsaw, mstarnawska ( at ) wz.uw.edu.pl
ST03_07 – Growth Strategies & Internationalization for SMEs
SMEs growth strategies have been recently marked by increasing levels of internationalization. This evolution is not limited to exports or international outsourcing: it is indeed a brand new way of doing business. Internationalization of SMEs is challenging existing knowledge. Management scholars are invited to provide new perspectives on international entrepreneurial strategies of SMEs, their challenges and evolving business models (also in terms of digital transformation and sustainability), their relation to countries of destination, timing and entry mode, managerial tools, organizational structure, quality of acquired knowledge, relationships with multinationals and institutions. Theoretical contributions, reflections, and empirical analyses are welcome.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Lara Penco , University of Genoa, lara.penco@economia.unige.it
ENTREPRENEURSHIP SIG TRACKS
T03_08 – Addressing the diversity in entrepreneurship: From freelancers to inclusive entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is a heterogeneous phenomenon which ranges from successful high-earning freelancers, to precarious, contingent workers with little job security and low income, as well as individuals who are under-represented and disadvantaged in entrepreneurship such as seniors and persons with disability (falling under the umbrella of inclusive entrepreneurship). Other examples of entrepreneurial types are hybrid entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, green entrepreneurs and ambitious entrepreneurs. This track calls for papers that focus on specific types of entrepreneurship, including but not limited to the above-mentioned types. Besides research on the characteristics, contributions and well-being of different categories of entrepreneurs, we are also interested in
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth,Goal 10: Reducing inequalities
Martha O’Hagan-Luff, Trinity College Dublin – ohaganm@tcd.ie
T03_09 – Contextual Understanding of Places in Ageing and Entrepreneurship
Population ageing is altering the geographical context of entrepreneurship in terms of opportunities and challenges. This implies that there might be different ways of enacting entrepreneurship that better suit ageing population. Extant research on ageing and entrepreneurship was primarily concerned with the impact of age on the career choice of individuals. Comparatively, the current contextual understanding of places in ageing and entrepreneurship is lacking. This session welcomes rigorous quantitative or qualitative research papers from multiple perspectives to advance theoretical and empirical understanding of the complex interaction between ageing and entrepreneurship in a regional context.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
Jun Li, University of Huddersfield – j.li3@hud.ac.uk
T03_09 - Contextual Understanding of Places in Ageing and Entrepreneurship
T03_10 – Entrepreneurship and informality
Some enterprises derive income from the production of legal goods and services but by doing at least some of their activities informally. Informality may include informal enterprises (i.e. operating without registration) and enterprises operating with partial registration to avoid specific regulations, such as environmental and labor regulations. Although these types of firms are omnipresent, much remains to be learned about the causes and effects of informality at all levels (micro, meso, or macro), as well as the processes in between. This track aims to contribute towards this debate and welcomes conceptual or empirical studies related to entrepreneurship and informality.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
Bisrat Misganaw, NEOMA Business School – bisrat.misganaw@neoma-bs.fr
T03_11 / T06_10 – Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystems (ENT & INNO SIGs)
Over the last decade, research on ecosystems has been increasingly stressing the importance of context to develop entrepreneurship and innovation. A growing consensus has emerged to identify the importance of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems for theory and practice. However, there is still limited understanding on several issues, most notably: the dynamics and processes that nurture entrepreneurship and innovation at the dawn of complex spatial morphologies and specificities, the management of networks of stakeholders to foster the emergence of radical innovation and of sustainability-centric innovation, and the management of innovation intermediaires to support entrepreneurial ventures and new approaches for innovation.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth,Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure,Goal 10: Reducing inequalities,Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Christina Theodoraki, Toulouse Business School – c.theodoraki@tbs-education.fr
T03_12 – Entrepreneurship for transformations of and through the creative industries
Entrepreneurship and creativity are considered drivers of transformation, and various economic-social transformations (e.g., digitalization, climate protection, participation) inspire novel and innovative businesses in creative industries. For example, entrepreneurial ecosystems are starting to emerge that provide alternatives to the traditionally ‘layered’ industrial organization in creative industries. At the same time, experimental approaches that involve the arts, culture, heritage, or creativity, seek to play a role in technological, ecological, and spatial transformations, as well as organizational and behavioral changes. This track, therefore, addresses two interconnected themes: Entrepreneurship for transformations of the creative industries, and entrepreneurship for transformations through the creative industries.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 4: Quality education,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth,Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure,Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities,Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production,Goal 13: Climate action,Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Ellen Loots, Erasmus University Rotterdam – loots@eshcc.eur.nl
T03_13 – Female entrepreneurship
More than thirty years have passed since the first study on female entrepreneurship has been published and since then an outpouring of research on the topic has emerged. Interestingly, to date, some pioneering scholars are contributing to moving ahead the field by reframing the established research questions, by proposing possible new research directions, by employing new empirical methods and theoretical approaches or by investigating new contexts. This track aims to encourage the adoption of new perspectives in the study of female entrepreneurship, able to demolish or confirm the established knowledge, as well as to investigate new issues on female entrepreneurship.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 5: Gender equality
Sara Poggesi, Tor Vergata University – sara.poggesi@uniroma2.it
T03_14 – Life Design – Integrating Design Thinking, Positive Psychology and Behavioral Economics
Life Design has the objective to support humans using the innovation method design thinking with positive psychology helping individuals to design a meaningful future. By applying the notion of prototyping and iterating to careers, side-hustles, and entrepreneurial activity, it aims to foster pro-active behavior and to legitimize experimenting in society for a better person-occupation fit leading to more psychological capital, reduced stress, and improved mental health and well-being. Given the inter-disciplinarity of the subject and strong relation between academics and practitioners, we encourage submissions from a diverse range of perspectives such as design thinking, psychology, entrepreneurship, educational science, and others.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people,Goal 4: Quality education,Goal 5: Gender equality,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth,Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure,Goal 10: Reducing inequalities
Sebastian Kernbach, University of St. Gallen, Stanford University, African Doctoral Academy – sebastian.kernbach@gmail.com
T03_15 – Migrant and ethnic minority entrepreneurship for inclusion
Migrant, ex-pat, and ethnic minority entrepreneurship for inclusion is relevant due to global mobility, technological advancements, (civil) wars, intercultural conflicts, and poverty. Such phenomenon is more important to tackle sustainable development challenges, namely lack of decent work, economic growth, and inequalities. Migrant, ex-pat and ethnic minority entrepreneurship is under additional pressure due to the CoViD-19 pandemic. At the same time, it is influenced by and influences the development of technology. Migrant, ex-pat, and ethnic minority entrepreneurship changes its face considerably and challenges the field of entrepreneurship. This track, thereby, encourages new perspectives, methods and novel research approaches to this field by addressing the individual-, group/family-, and international dimensions.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth,Goal 10: Reducing inequalities
Quang David Evansluong, Umeå University and University of Gothenburg – quang.evansluong@gmail.com
T03_16 – Saudi Arabia Matters: Cases from a Transforming Knowledge Economy
Saudi Arabia Matters: Cases from a Transforming Economy
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty,Goal 2: Zero hunger,Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people,Goal 4: Quality education,Goal 5: Gender equality,Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation,Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth,Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure,Goal 10: Reducing inequalities,Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities,Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production,Goal 13: Climate action,Goal 14: Life below water,Goal 15: Life on land,Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions,Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Bassem Nasri, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University – bnasri@pmu.edu.sa
T03_16 - Saudi Arabia Matters: Cases from a Transforming Knowledge Economy
T03_17 – The Sharing, Gig, Platform and Post-Platform Economy: Actors, Business Models, Ecosystems and Technologies
The (post)platform sharing economy has insolently grown even during the lockdowns. The collaborative technologies have lowered transaction costs to popularize and democratize entrepreneurship for peers who exchange the unused, underused or produced assets and skills.
Transportation represents the largest share (58%), followed by asset-sharing (31%), provision of homemade goods (7%) and professional services (4%). The distribution of revenues varies between three-quarters of the revenue for providers and the rest for platforms and third parties.
The track addresses the challenges of (post)platform economy, emerging technologies like blockchains and entrepreneurial business models of (not)for-profit, disposition instead of possession and cooperatives opportunities.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty,Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people,Goal 5: Gender equality,Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy,Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth,Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure,Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities,Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions,Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Djamchid Assadi, Burgundy School of Business BSB, France, djamchid.assadi@bsb-education.com – djamchid.assadi@bsb-education.com