Special Issue – Entrepreneurship and Society

Guest Editors

• William C. Zhou, Sacred Heart University
• Ximeng Chen, Sacred Heart University
• Grace Chun Guo, Sacred Heart University
• Andres Felipe Cortes, Sacred Heart University

The past decade has seen a widespread acknowledgement of the important social impact of entrepreneurship activities and how entrepreneurs devise and create new organizations to address social challenges (Bacq & Alt, 2018; Bacq & Janssen, 2011; Dacin, Dacin, & Tracey, 2011). In this sense, entrepreneurship aims to offer social value propositions, while at the same time, it strives to secure the long-term viability of the new social venture (Miller, Grimes, McMullen, & Vogus, 2012; Pache & Santos, 2013), known as the hybrid (economic and social) logic of entrepreneurship (Sun & Im, 2015; Sun & Liang, 2021).

Given this trend, the social implications of entrepreneurship are considered  a key research field with increased interests and attention from entrepreneurs, investors, customers, policy makers, and researchers (Datta & Gailey, 2012; Giudici, Combs, Cannatelli, & Smith, 2018; Yan, Mmbaga, & Gras, 2022). The expanded adoption of social value propositions by organizations large and small presents opportunities for scholarship at the intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation, strategy, sociology, international business, and political science (Bhattarai, Kwong, & Tasavori, 2019; Dacin et al., 2011; Peredo & McLean, 2006; Weerawardena & Mort, 2006; Williams, Nason, Wolfe, & Short, 2023). Specifically, as the recognition of the social implications of entrepreneurship become more prevalent, it is of empirical and theoretical importance to improve our understanding of how entrepreneurship and society interact in addressing the hybrid logic. The main purpose of this special issue is to expand our theoretical and empirical knowledge on this broad topic of entrepreneurship and society. Potential themes could include, but are not limited to:

• New ventures and social innovation
  • What are the motivations or inspirations driving social innovators?
  • How do entrepreneurs think about the social aspects of product/service/business model innovation?
  • What are the relationships and dynamics among different stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, activities, communities, suppliers, customers) that facilitate or hinder the social innovation?
• Social entrepreneurship and ecosystem
  • What does the ecosystem for social ventures look like?
  • How do social ventures interact with stakeholders within the ecosystem?
  • How do new and alternative funding sources, e.g., B-corp equity, crowdfunding, impactor investment, impact social entrepreneurship?
  • What are the governance mechanisms of the ecosystem for social ventures?
• Entrepreneurship and social impact
  • How do we measure the impact of social ventures?
  • How do various stakeholders benefit from social entrepreneurship, particularly international agencies (e.g., United Nations) and governments and local communities?
• Entrepreneurship as an avenue for growth and social impact of:
  • Transitional entrepreneurship
  • Immigrant entrepreneurship
  • Women entrepreneurship
  • Minority entrepreneurship
  • Sustainable entrepreneurship
  • Development entrepreneurship
• Non-profit organizations and non-profit organization management and innovation
  • How do non-profit organizations survive and navigate crises (e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions)?
  • How do non-profit organizations overcome the resource constraints and institutional barriers?
  • What new processes and mechanisms are employed by entrepreneurs and managers of non-profit organizations?
  • How are the strategies, marketing, and supply chain management in non-profit organizations different from other organizations?
• Institutions and social ventures
  • What is the impact of formal and informal institutions on the performance/survival of social ventures?
  • How do social ventures overcome the institutional barriers; how do they create a supportive institutional environment; how do they manage and adapt to the challenges of the institutional environment?
• Microfoundations of entrepreneurship with social impact
  • Individual level factors (personalities, emotions, values, entrepreneurial orientation, etc.) that motivate entrepreneurs to create ventures and initiatives with social impact.
  • Opportunity identification, evaluation and decision-making that lead to entrepreneurial ventures and initiative with social impact.
  • Characteristics of entrepreneurial teams (size, compositions) that may impact the pursuit of entrepreneurial ventures and initiatives with social impact.

Submission and Review Process

The submission deadline is August 1st, 2024. Papers will be screened by the guest editors, and those deemed suitable will be sent to at least two reviewers. Manuscripts must apply the NEJE’s general author guidelines, such as style and paper length. All papers must go through the journal’s online submission portal. Authors should select ‘SI: Entrepreneurship and Society’ option when submitting their manuscript.

Key Information

Submission open: June 1^st, 2024

Submission deadline: August 1^st, 2024

Submission portal: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/neje

NEJE’s Website: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/neje

For any questions, please contact the guest editors William Zhou ([email protected]), Ximeng Chen ([email protected]), Grace Guo ([email protected]), or Andres Felipe Cortes ([email protected]).

References

Bacq, S., & Alt, E. 2018. Feeling capable and valued: A prosocial perspective on the link between empathy and social entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(3): 333-350.

Bacq, S., & Janssen, F. 2011. The multiple faces of social entrepreneurship: A review of definitional issues based on geographical and thematic criteria. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 23(5-6): 373-403.

Bhattarai, C. R., Kwong, C. C. Y., & Tasavori, M. 2019. Market orientation, market disruptiveness capability and social enterprise performance: An empirical study from the United Kingdom. Journal of Business Research, 96: 47-60.

Dacin, M. T., Dacin, P. A., & Tracey, P. 2011. Social entrepreneurship: A critique and future directions. Organization Science, 22(5): 1203-1213.

Datta, P. B., & Gailey, R. 2012. Empowering women through social entrepreneurship: Case study of a women's cooperative in India. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(3): 569-587.

Giudici, A., Combs, J. G., Cannatelli, B. L., & Smith, B. R. 2018. Successful scaling in social franchising: The case of impact hub. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice: 1042258718801593.

Miller, T. L., Grimes, M. G., McMullen, J. S., & Vogus, T. J. 2012. Venturing for others with heart and head: How compassion encourages social entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Review, 37(4): 616-640.

Pache, A.-C., & Santos, F. 2013. Inside the hybrid organization: Selective coupling as a response to competing institutional logics. Academy of Management Journal, 56(4): 972-1001.

Peredo, A. M., & McLean, M. 2006. Social entrepreneurship: A critical review of the concept. Journal of World Business, 41(1): 56-65.

Sun, S. L., & Im, J. 2015. Cutting microfinance interest rates: An opportunity co-creation perspective. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(1): 101-128.

Sun, S. L., & Liang, H. 2021. Globalization and affordability of microfinance. Journal of Business Venturing, 36(1).

Weerawardena, J., & Mort, G. S. 2006. Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model. Journal of World Business, 41(1): 21-35.

Williams, T. A., Nason, R., Wolfe, M. T., & Short, J. C. 2023. Seizing the moment—Strategy, social entrepreneurship, and the pursuit of impact. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 17(1): 3-18.

Yan, J., Mmbaga, N., & Gras, D. 2022. In pursuit of diversification opportunities, efficiency, and revenue diversification: A generalization and extension for social entrepreneurship. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.