REMINDER: Socio-Cultural Factors and Entrepreneurial Activity (ISBJ)

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

Call for Papers - Socio-Cultural Factors and Entrepreneurial Activity
International Small Business Journal (ISBJ)
Deadline: January 31, 2009
 
Entrepreneurs capture or produce change, and thus entrepreneurship is the manifestation of change. In the same way, entrepreneurship and small businesses are regarded as vital sources of jobs, business dynamism and innovation. Scholars continue to discover the factors that explain firm creation with the aim of influencing those that might be able to put these new initiatives into practice to stimulate new business. The conclusions obtained from entrepreneurship research stress multiple dimensions that influence the decision to start up a new business. However, while research has yielded rich results from a personal, economic, institutional and political point of view, the influence of cultural and social factors on enterprise development remains understudied.

This special issue is dedicated to examining the social and cultural factors of entrepreneurial activity. Authors have pointed out the importance of the socio-cultural factors in the final decision to create new businesses (Hofstede, 2001), stating that entrepreneurship is embedded in a social context (Aldrich and Zimmer, 1986), establishing entrepreneurship as a societal phenomenon rather than as a purely economic activity (Steyeart, 2007). Other authors have emphases that entrepreneurial variations could be better understood by considering the social environment where the firm is created, more than the economic variables. Drakopoulou Dodd and Anderson (2007) suggest that while the economic environment may explain some of the variation, any convincing explanation must take account of the differences that lie in the social and cultural aspects of entrepreneurial activity.

We are seeking to include scholarship from multi-disciplinary perspectives including Institutional Economics (North, 1990) and Economic Sociology (Granovetter, 1985; Fligstein 2001; Thornton, 1999) as possible conceptual frameworks to analyze the influence of socio-cultural factors on entrepreneurial activity. Other approaches are welcome in order to overcome the limitations or to complement these perspectives.

In this respect, the special issue will provide a common platform for scholars and practitioners to address the impact of socio-cultural factors on entrepreneurial activity.

Recommended topic areas to consider for inclusion in this special issue are, but are not limited to, the following:

* Socio-cultural diversity and entrepreneurial activity
* The relationship between cultural factors and business strategies
* Education and entrepreneurship
* Value systems and entrepreneurial values
* Religion and entrepreneurship
* Socio-cultural differences in ethnic entrepreneurship
* The role of socio-cultural factors in intrapreneurship
* Socio-cultural diversity and regional development
* Similarities and differences in the role of socio-cultural factors in SMEs and large corporations
* The role of socio-cultural factors in entrepreneurship in developing countries.
* Institutional economics and entrepreneurship
* Economic sociology and entrepreneurship
* Culture and entrepreneurship from a cross country comparison
* The importance of social context in the entrepreneurial process

The issue will publish theoretical, methodological and empirical studies of small firms from a broad range of disciplines and perspectives, which should act as a guide for academics, policy makers and analysts, in government and business, seeking to understand the sector, trade and business institutions, small business representative bodies and those in support agencies.

Please send electronic submissions (word format) directly to the guest editors: Dr. Domingo Ribeiro (domingo.ribeiro at uv.es), Dr. Pat Thornton (thornton at duke.edu) or Dr. David Urbano (david.urbano at uab.es). Prospective authors are welcome to submit an abstract to the guest editor for preliminary feedback on the appropriateness of their planned manuscript. Please clearly identify your submission in the email subject line "ISBJ-Special Issue".

References

Aldrich, H.E. and Zimmer, C. (1986) ´Entrepreneurship through Social Networks, in D. Sexton and R. Smilor (eds.) The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship, pp. 3-23. New York: Ballinger.
Drakopoulou Dodd, S.D. and Anderson, A.R. (2007) ´Mumpsimus and the Mything of the Individualistic Entrepreneur´, International Small Business Journal, 25(4): 341-60.
Fligstein, N. (2001) 'The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First- Century Capitalist Societies', Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Granovetter, M. (1985) 'Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness', American Journal of Sociology 91 (3): 481-510.
Hofstede, G. (2001) Culture's Consequences; Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
North, D.C. (1990) Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Steyaert, C. (2007) ´"Entrepreneurisng" as a Conceptual Attractor? A Review of Process Theories in 20 Years of Entrepreneurship Studies´, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 19(6): 453-77.
Thornton, P. H. (1999) 'The Sociology of Entrepreneurship,' Annual Review of Sociology, 25: 19-46.
 
All submissions should follow the general guidelines of the journal. The manuscripts will be peer reviewed according to the journal's general policy; all reviews are double-blind. From this review process 4-5 papers (maximum of 8,000 words per paper) will be selected for the Special Issue. The Special Issue will also contain an introduction written by the editors.
 
Deadline:   	January 31, 2009
Issue Date:   	January 1, 2010
 
Website:   	http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal201573
 
Contact Info:   	Domingo Ribeiro
phone: 0034647638338
email address: domingo.ribeiro at uv.es
Spain