CFP: Theoretical Developments and Future Research in Family Business

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

Call for Papers
Theoretical Developments and Future Research in Family Business
Deadline: June 1, 2007

Until recently, research in family business has been confined to a
sub-group of entrepreneurship scholars, labor economists, and
sociologists. Family business employment is often the only economic
option available to migrants, the first entrepreneurial experience for
young people, and a source of an economy's new business creation
activities. These issues are typically framed in terms of the
generational transfer of wealth, management succession, or the interplay
between the economic system of a family and its sociopolitical system.
The phenomenon is clearly widespread but for some reason continues to be
poorly understood.

We believe that progress on the empirical front has been hampered by a
lack of accepted theoretical frameworks. For example, attempts to employ
agency theory, geographic agglomeration and spillovers, social networks,
sensemaking, bargaining and other frameworks have been scattered. In our
view, the extant research has not created the theoretic ballast that can
withstand repeated empirical verification. More fundamentally,
researchers are beginning to ask, 'Is family business theoretically
distinctive or a convenient phenomenon for exploiting familiar theories
with new data?'

We believe the time is ripe for a focused look at the theoretical
history and prospects of family business research. Review articles
grounded in economics, sociology, psychology and political economy and
that offer multidisciplinary implications are especially sought. Theory
based empirical papers are also welcomed. We believe that there are
exciting opportunities for theory development and so encourage authors
to focus on this in their submissions. In sum, the focus of this volume
is on showcasing and advancing the latest research in family business.

This is the sixth volume in the Research in Entrepreneurship and
Management series, which is published by Information Age Press of
Greenwich, CT. Previous volumes have dealt with technology, women
entrepreneurs, venture capital and e-commerce.

Authors interested in contributing should contact one of the editors.
For authors in Asia, the Middle East, Central and South America contact
John Butler at jebutler at hawaii.edu. Authors in North America and Europe
should contact Phillip Phan at pphan at rpi.edu. Dateline for electronic
submission to the blind review process is June 1, 2007. Please format
papers in Microsoft Word with 1" margins, 12 point Times-Roman font, and
double-spaced using APA citation conventions.

John E. Butler (jebutler at hawaii.edu)
Editor, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice
Noborikawa Professor of Entrepreneurship
University of Hawaii

Phillip H. Phan (pphan at rpi.edu)
Associate Editor, Journal of Business Venturing
Bruggeman Professor of Management
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

More info at http://www.ifera.org/pdfs/IAP_Call.pdf