Introduction
With Africa’s population predicted to surpass 2 billion by 2050 (Stanley, 2023), it is likely that this surge will only exacerbate existing socio-economic hardships across many regions of the continent. Research (e.g., Adeyeye et al., 2023; Feng et al., 2023; Plagerson, 2023) identifies chronic poverty, scarcity of resources, and societal inequalities as some of Africa’s enduring socio-economic hardships. In view of these hardships, questions about how best to tackle them continue to grow louder. Within this chorus of voices, entrepreneurship has been identified as one way of helping to overcome these challenges (see Morris, 2021; Morris & Tucker, 2023; Weber et al., 2023).
Thus, and taking into consideration the opportunities that entrepreneurship offers, as well as its limitations, we call for research that focuses on African entrepreneurship and innovation, both current patterns and that which might develop or be promoted in the future. We are interested in studies that develop new knowledge, conceptual and/or empirical, in relation to African entrepreneurship and innovation in the face of the continent’s endemic socio-economic hardships. From an academic perspective, we believe that such focus will not only enable scholarly conversations within this context (Hamann et al., 2020; Newbert et al., 2022) but also encourage discussion of contextual factors that may themselves be barriers and how they might be overcome.
Recent research shows that African entrepreneurship and innovation occurs largely in informal settings (e.g., Godfrey, 2011; Igudia et al., 2022; Simba et al., 2023). Informal institutions embedded in local systems of culture, social norms, and values of such settings, have replaced formal ones in providing an alternative framework for promoting African entrepreneurship and innovation (see Omeihe et al., 2021; Thai et al., 2020; Simba et al., 2024). This builds on the literature that has identified the importance of ‘institutional incongruence’ – the gap between formal and informal institutions (e.g., Webb et al., 2009; 2013; Igudia et al., 2022). Therefore, and considering Africa’s endemic socio-economic hardships, varying forms of entrepreneurship and powerful informal institutions, we encourage researchers to submit manuscripts that focus on themes such as those suggested below.
List of topic areas
This is not an exhaustive listing of acceptable topics, but an indication of the sorts of areas of African entrepreneurship and innovation topics that will be most welcome.
- African entrepreneurship and institutions
- Entrepreneurship and poverty
- Entrepreneurship and wellbeing
- Women entrepreneurship
- Family firms
- Indigenous entrepreneurship
- Informal entrepreneurship
- Slum entrepreneurship
- Street vendors
- Bricolage
- Frugal innovation
- Technological innovation for entrepreneurship
- Agricultural entrepreneurship and innovation
These studies can be country specific. That said and to quote Faloyin (2023), Africa is not a country, so studies are also invited that explore differences across countries and regions within the African context. Within these topics research might, for example, focus on: generating new models/frameworks of entrepreneurial or innovative understanding; identifying contextual influences that constrain or encourage such activities; developing policy insights to support their promotion; providing insight into the consequences of these activities (positive or negative); and considering the transformations in the above that are taking place over time, given rapid changes taking place in some parts of the continent.
References
Adeyeye, S. A. O., Ashaolu, T. J., Bolaji, O. T., Abegunde, T. A., & Omoyajowo, A. O. (2023). Africa and the Nexus of poverty, malnutrition and diseases. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 63(5), 641-656.
Faloyin, D. (2023). Africa is Not a Country: breaking stereotypes of modern Africa. London: Penguin.
Feng, Y., Hu, J., Afshan, S., Irfan, M., Hu, M., & Abbas, S. (2023). Bridging resource disparities for sustainable development: A comparative analysis of resource–rich and resource–scarce countries. Resources Policy, 85, 103981.
Godfrey, P. C. (2011). Toward a theory of the informal economy. Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 231-277.
Hamann, R., Luiz, J., Ramaboa, K., Khan, F., Dhlamini, X., & Nilsson, W. (2020). Neither colony nor enclave: Calling for dialogical contextualism in management and organization studies. Organization Theory, 1(1), 2631787719879705.
Igudia, E., Ackrill, R., & Machokoto, M. (2022). Institutional incongruence, the everyday, and the persistence of street vending in Lagos: a demand-side perspective. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 54(6), 1256-1276.
Morris, M. H. (2021). Poverty and entrepreneurship in developed economies. In World Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship (pp.523–534). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Morris, M. H., & Tucker, R. (2023). The entrepreneurial mindset and poverty. Journal of Small Business Management, 61(1), 102-131.
Newbert, S. L., Kher, R., & Yang, S. (2022). Now that's interesting and important! Moving beyond averages to increase the inferential value of empirical findings in entrepreneurship research. Journal of Business Venturing, 37(2), 106185.
Omeihe, K. O., Simba, A., Rae, D., Gustafsson, V., & Khan, M. S. (2021). Trusting in indigenous institutions: Exporting SMEs in Nigeria. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 28(7), 1117-1142.
Plagerson, S. (2023). Mainstreaming poverty, inequality and social exclusion: A systematic assessment of public policy in South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 40(1), 191-207.
Stanley, A., (2023). A demographic transformation in Africa has the potential to alter the world order. Finance and Development: African century. International Monetary Fund. Washington DC. Available at: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2023/09/PT-african-cen…. Accessed 11.03.2024.
Simba, A., Ojong, N., & Dana, L. P. (2023). Informal entrepreneurship: a review and prioritization of research opportunities. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 28(02), 2350013.
Thai, M.T.T., Turkina, E., & Simba, A. (2020). The impact of national social capital on business creation rates in the formal vs informal sectors, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 26(8), pp. 1739-1768.
Webb, J.W., Bruton, G.D., Tihanyi, L., & Ireland, R.D. (2013). Research on entrepreneurship in the informal economy: Framing a research agenda. Journal of Business Venturing, 28, 598-614.
Webb, J.W., Tihanyi, L., Ireland, R.D., & Sirmon, D.G. (2009). You say illegal, I say legitimate: entrepreneurship in the informal economy. Academy of Management Review, 34, 492-510.
Weber, C., Fasse, A., Haugh, H. M., & Grote, U. (2023). Varieties of necessity entrepreneurship–new insights from Sub Saharan Africa. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(5), 1843-1876.
Submissions Information
Abstracts should be submitted to [email protected] by 6th January 2025.
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijebr
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/ijebr#jlp_author_guidelines
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key deadlines
Closing date for abstract submission: 6 January 2025
Email for abstract submissions: [email protected]
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 26 February 2025
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 28 May 2025