ANNOUNCE: Doctoral Course (5 ECTS), Summer Semester 2013, University of Siegen, Germany

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

From: Ettl, Kerstin, Dr. [mailto:kerstin.ettl at uni-siegen.de] 
Date: Fri 5 Apr 2013 14:56

DOCTORAL COURSE (5 ECTS), SUMMER SEMESTER 2013
CONTEXTUALISING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SME
LSF-Number: 1051610107

Background: Entrepreneurship and small business activity take place in various contexts, they are embedded socially, culturally as well as politically. However, researchers often underestimate the influence of contextual factors and the embedding of entrepreneurial and small business activities. Recognising the diversity of contexts of entrepreneurship as well as the context of researchers can help us to understand the true richness of the entrepreneurship phenomenon. This course will study entrepreneurship as a contextualised event from different theoretical and empirical perspectives. We will also discuss challenges for entrepreneurship theory as well as implications for research designs. 

Aims: This course aims to introduce students to different contexts in which entrepreneurship and small business activities take place, with particular emphasis on the challenges this poses for theory and methodologies.

Tutors: Friederike Welter, Kerstin Ettl

Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
. Develop an understanding of entrepreneurship and small business as contextualised event
. Understand the relevance of the researcher's own context for researching entrepreneurship
. Understand the implications of different contexts for applying theory and for empirical research designs

Skills and abilities
. Design and write an academic paper (article, conference paper or thesis chapter) within entrepreneurship and SME area
. Review and assess an academic paper within the entrepreneurship area
. Develop implications of course topic for own research topic

Assessment and attitude skills
. Critically assess different strands of (entrepreneurship and small business) research, also in relation to participant's own research question
. Critically assess academic literature and academic papers of course participants
. Recognize the importance of different contexts for entrepreneurship and small business (research) 

Teaching methods: problem-based learning, literature-based seminars with active participation and discussion by participants, group-work and group discussions, individual tutoring and feedback on assignments

Examination
Course grade: pass or fail. 
Course parts: Mandatory attendance and active participation during all seminars, delivering course paper and review on time, reading the course literature and conducting additional literature searches. 

Course assignments
1. written individual review (2 pages) on the research paper of another course participant and an oral presentation as discussant at the final session. To be submitted to course tutor and authors a week before the final session (28 June).
2. written research paper (individually or in teams of two) on a selected topic related to course theme and 15 minute presentation at the final session (ca. 6.000 words). This paper should ideally be targeted towards a specific journal, workshop or conference within the entrepreneurship and SME field or contribute to the participant's thesis. A draft is to be submitted to reviewer(s) and course tutors who will act as additional expert reviewer, latest two weeks before the final session (i.e., 22 June 2013). The final paper is due latest four weeks after the course sessions (i.e., 6 August 2013).

Course schedule: 
- course introduction: 19 April, 15-18. H-C 3302
- course sessions: 22 June (H-C 6336/37), 5 and 6 July (H-B 6414). Time: 8-16. 

Course contents
We will explore the themes and perspectives of contexts and the embeddedness of entrepreneurship and small business (research) as set out below. Our discussions will identify the conceptual and methodological challenges of a context perspective on entrepreneurship and SMEs. 

1. Contextualising entrepreneurship research
Research itself takes place in specific contexts and communities. Zahra (2007) draws attention to the aspect that entrepreneurship research itself needs to be contextualised, arguing for greater care and creativity in 'contextualising' the field. This session will focus on whether we can import theories and concepts from other disciplines. We also will discuss how the participant's context (culture, background, etc.) impacts on their research topic. 

2. Defining and understanding contexts
Which contexts can we identify? Are all important for entrepreneurial and small business activities? In which ways can concepts of embeddedness add to our understanding of contexts? Both Polanyi (1957) and Granovetter (1985) argued that economic behaviour cannot be understood outside the context of its social relations. 

3. Constructing opportunities - The individual context
Recent studies draw attention to cognitive processes and cognitive properties of entrepreneurs. In this regard, incorporating context can help in gaining deeper insights into cognitive processes of entrepreneurs and small business owners. This theme will focus on critically reviewing the social construction of opportunities and opportunity recognition, thus combining an individual and context perspective. 

4. Beyond the social network perspective - households and enterprising families (5-6 July)
Recently, entrepreneurship scholars have started 'reconceptualising' the social network approach by incorporating household and family as contexts for entrepreneurial activities. This theme will explore concepts focusing on households and family contexts and their usefulness for entrepreneurship and SME research, critically comparing them with a social network perspective. 

5. Entrepreneurship as collective phenomenon - the impact of place and space
Entrepreneurship is increasingly understood as a complex socio-economic and spatial phenomenon. This theme will critically review theoretical concepts of space and place in relation to entrepreneurial activities and socio-spatial forms of entrepreneurship, e.g., community, heritage or neighbourhood entrepreneurship. 

6. Entrepreneurship, institutions and society
More and more researchers consider the societal contribution of entrepreneurship and small business activities, while at the same time acknowledging that these activities are embedded in institutional contexts which constrain as well as enable entrepreneurial activities. Related research, for example, has emphasized entrepreneurship as an everyday activity or highlighted the social responsibility of small business owners. This theme will discuss entrepreneurship as leverage for societal change and development and the impact society has on entrepreneurship. It also will explore recent theoretical concepts such as institutional entrepreneurship as regards their value in explaining the role of entrepreneurs and small business owners for social and institutional change.

Application: The course has room for 20 participants and participants will be admitted until the course is full. Please send an e-mail to Friederike Welter (welter at uni-siegen.de), including your name, phd topic (university if not Siegen) and a valid email address.

Course literature: The list below includes selected articles from the entrepreneurship and other fields, which serve as introduction to the course topic. Participants are required to read the course literature before course start. As the topic of the course touches on other disciplines / research fields, participants generally are expected to complement the course literature with their own literature search, extending this, amongst others, to anthropology and ethnological studies, economic geography, agricultural economics, rural studies, gender studies, (economic) sociology. 

Aldrich, H. E. (2010). Beam Me Up, Scott(ie)! Institutional Theorists' Struggles with the Emergent Nature of Entrepreneurship. Research in the Sociology of Work, 329-364.
Aldrich, H. E. (2012). The emergence of entrepreneurship as an academic field: A personal essay on institutional entrepreneurship. Research Policy, 41, 1240-1248.
Aldrich, H. E. & Cliff, J. E. (2003). The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship: toward a family embeddedness perspective. Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 573-596.
Anderson, A. R. (2000). Paradox in the periphery: an entrepreneurial reconstruction? Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 12, 91-109.
Anderson, A. R. & Smith, R. (2007). The moral space in entrepreneurship: an exploration of ethical imperatives and the moral legitimacy of being enterprising. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 19, 479-497.
Berg, N. G. (1997). Gender, place and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 9, 259-268.
Blackburn, R. & Kovalainen, A. (2009). Researching small firms and entrepreneurship: Past, present and future. International Journal of Management Reviews, 11, 127-148.
Busenitz, L. W., Gómez, C. & Spencer, J. W. (2000). Country Institutional Profiles: Unlocking Entrepreneurial Phenomena. The Academy of Management Journal, 43, 994-1003.
Carter, S. (2011). The Rewards of Entrepreneurship: Exploring the Incomes, Wealth and Economic Well-Being of Entrepreneurial Households. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Forthcoming.
Davidsson, P. (2013). Some reflection on research 'Schools' and geographies. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 25, 100-110.
Davidsson, P., Hunter, E. & Klofsten, M. (2006). Institutional forces - The invisible hand that shapes venture ideas? International Small Business Journal, 24, 115-131.
Dimov, D. (2007). Beyond the Single-Person, Single-Insight Attribution in Understanding Entrepreneurial Opportunities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31, 713-731.
Dimov, D. (2011). Grappling With the Unbearable Elusiveness of Entrepreneurial Opportunities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35, 57-81.
Fletcher, D. E. (2006). Entrepreneurial processes and the social construction of opportunity. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 18, 421-440.
Gartner, W. B. (2013). Creating a community of difference in entrepreneurship scholarship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 25, 5-15.
Gartner, W. B., Davidsson, P. & Zahra, S. A. (2006). Are you talking to me? The nature of community in entrepreneurship scholarship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30, 321-331.
Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness. The American journal of sociology, 91, 481-510.
Henrekson, M. & Sanandaji, T. (2011). The interaction of entrepreneurship and institutions. Journal of Institutional Economics, 7, 47-75.
Hess, M. (2004). 'Spatial' relationships? Towards a reconceptualization of embeddedness. Progress in Human Geography, 28, 165-186.
Hindle, K. (2010). How community context affects entrepreneurial process: A diagnostic framework. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 22, 599-647.
Hjorth, D. & Johannisson, B. (2003). Conceptualising the opening phase of regional development as the enactment of a 'collective identity'. Concepts & Transformation, 8, 69.
Hjorth, D., Jones, C. & Gartner, W. B. (2008). Introduction for 'recreating/recontextualising entrepreneurship'. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 24, 81-84.
Jack, S. L. & Anderson, A. R. (2002). The effects of embeddedness on the entrepreneurial process. Journal of Business Venturing, 17, 467-487.
Johannisson, B. & Nilsson, A. (1989). Community entrepreneurs: networking for local development. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 1, 3-19.
Johannisson, B., Ramirez-Pasillas, M. & Karlsson, G. (2002). The institutional embeddedness of local inter-firm networks: a leverage for business creation. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 14, 297-315.
Pacheco, D. F., York, J. G., Dean, T. J. & Sarasvathy, S. D. (2010). The Coevolution of Institutional Entrepreneurship: A Tale of Two Theories. Journal of Management, 36, 974-1010.
Polanyi, K. (1957). The great transformation: the political and economic origins of our time. Boston: Beacon.
Steyaert, C. & Katz, J. (2004). Reclaiming the space of entrepreneurship in society: geographical, discursive and social, dimensions. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 16, 179-196.
Ucbasaran, D., Westhead, P. & Wright, M. (2001). The Focus of Entrepreneurial Research: Contextual and Process Issues. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 25, 57.
Welter, F. (2011). Contextualizing Entrepreneurship-Conceptual Challenges and Ways Forward. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35, 165-184.
Wheelock, J. & Oughton, E. (1996). The household as a focus for research. Journal of Economic Issues, 30, 143-159.
Wheelock, J., Oughton, E. & Baines, S. (2003). Getting by with a little help from your family: Toward a policy-relevant model of the household. Feminist Economics, 9, 19-45.
Zahra, S. A. (2007). Contextualizing theory building in entrepreneurship research. Journal of Business Venturing, 22, 443-452.
Zahra, S. A. & Wright, M. (2011). Entrepreneurship's Next Act. Academy of Management Perspectives, 25, 67-83.