Awards

The Entrepreneurship Division recognizes excellence in research, teaching, service by conferring awards on well-deserving members of the Division. The awards are presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management.

Awards for Published Research

Foundational Paper Award

Sponsored by the ENT Division. This award honors a paper that has powerfully and positively changed the conversation in the field of entrepreneurship for at least a decade. Key criteria are that the paper must have been published for 10 years, and the author must be living. Division members nominate papers for the award, and the ENT Division Research Committee selects the winner from among the nominated papers.

Click here for information on the 2023 nomination process.

Award Winners

2023 Melissa Cardon (University of Tennessee), Joakim Wincent (Hanken School of Economics and University of St Gallen), Jagdip Singh (Case Western Reserve University), and Mateja Drnovsek (University of Ljubljana) for “The Nature and Experience of Entrepreneurial Passion” published in 2009 in Academy of Management Review.

2022 Dean Shepherd (University of Notre Dame) for “Learning from Business Failure: Propositions of Grief Recovery for the Self-Employed” published in 2003 in Academy of Management Review.

2021 Howard Aldrich (University of North Carolina) & Jennifer Jennings (University of Alberta) for "The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship: Toward a family embeddedness perspective" published in 2003 in Journal of Business Venturing. 

2020 Ted Baker (Rutgers University and The University of Cape Town) & Reed Nelson (University of Louisiana, Lafayette) for “Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage” published in 2005 in Administrative Science Quarterly. 

2019 Sharon Alvarez (University of Pittsburgh) & Jay B. Barney (University of Utah) for "The Discovery-creation: Alternative Theories of Entrepreneurial Action" published in 2007 in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

2018 Jeffery S. McMullen (Indiana University) & Dean A. Shepherd (Notre Dame University) for "Entrepreneurial Action and the Role of Uncertainty in the Theory of the Entrepreneur" published in 2006 in Academy of Management Review.

2017 Saras D Sarasvathy for “Causation and Effectuation: Toward a Theoretical Shift from Economic Inevitability to Entrepreneurial Contingency” published in 2001 in the Academy of Management Review.

2016 Jeffrey G Covin and Dennis P Slevin for “Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments” published in 1989 in the Strategic Management Journal.

2015 Benjamin Oviatt and Patricia McDougal for "Toward a Theory of International New Ventures" published in 1994 in Journal of International Business Studies.

2014 William J. Baumol for “Entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive and destructive” published in 1996 in Journal of Business Venturing.

2013 Jerome Katz & William B. Gartner for “Properties of emerging organizations” published in 1988 in Academy of Management Review.

2012 Javier Gimeno, Tim Folta, Arnold Cooper & Carolyn Woo for “Survival of the fittest: Entrepreneurial human capital and the persistence of underperforming firms” published in 1997 in Administrative Science Quarterly.

2011 Scott Shane (Case Western Reserve University) for “Prior knowledge and the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities” published in 2000 in Organization Science.

2010 No award

2009 Howard Aldrich (U. of North Carolina) and C. Marlena Fiol (U. of Colorado, Denver) for “Fools rush in: The institutional context of industry creation”, published in 1994 in Academy of Management Review.

Tom Lumpkin (Syracuse U.) and Greg Dess (U. of Texas, Dallas) for “Clarifying the entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it to performance,” published in 1996 in Academy of Management Review.

2008 S. Venkataraman (U. of Virginia) for “The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research,” published in 1997 in Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, Volume 3.

Helena Yli-Renko Research Impact Award

Sponsored by the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. This award honors the most impactful entrepreneurship paper (i.e., receiving the most citations) published six years prior to the award year. Papers published in leading management and entrepreneurship journals are eligible for the award (e.g., in 2012, the paper will be given to an award published in 2006). The award is determined by the number of Social Sciences Citation Index citations received by paper during the five years following its publication. Details of the methodology are available online at the sponsor’s website. The award carries a cash prize of $5000.

Award Winners

2023 Ben Spigel (Babson College) for “The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems” published in 2017 in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

2022 Greg Fisher (Indiana University), Suresh Kotha (University of Washington), and Amrita Lahiri (Washington State University) for “Changing with the Times: An Integrated View of Identity, Legitimacy, and New Venture Lifecycles” published in 2016 in Academy of Management Review.

2021 Gerrit K.C. Ahlers (McKinsey & Company), Douglas Cumming (Florida Atlantic University), Christina Günther (WHU—Otto Beisheim School of Management), and Denis Schweizer (Concordia University) for “Signaling in Equity Crowdfunding” published in 2015 in Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice. 

2020 Ethan Mollick (Wharton-–University of Pennsylvania) for “The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study” published in 2014 in Journal of Business Venturing.

2019 Bruce Martin (University College Dublin), Jeff McNally (University of New Brunswick), and Michael Kay (Wilfrid Laurier University) for "Examining the formation of human capital in entrepreneurship: A meta-analysis of entrepreneurship education outcomes" published in 2013 in Journal of Business Venturing. 

2018 Jim Chrisman (Mississippi State University), Jess Chua (University of Calgary), Allison Pearson (Mississippi State University) & Tim Barnett (Mississippi State University) for "Family Involvement, Family Influence, and Family-Centered Non-Economic Goals in Small Firms" published in 2012 in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

2017 Friederike Welter for “Contextualizing Entrepreneurship—Conceptual Challenges and Ways Forward” published in 2011 in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

2016 Yan Zhang and Haiyang Li for “Innovation search of new ventures in a technology cluster: The role of ties with service intermediaries” published in 2010 in the Strategic Management Journal.

2015 Andreas Rouch, Johan Wiklund, G.T. Lumpkin, and Michael Frese for "Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance: Assessment of Past Research and Suggestions for the Future" published in 2009 in Entrepreneurial Theory and Practice.

2014 Robert A. Baron for “The role of in the entrepreneurial process” published in 2008 in Academy of Management Review.

2013 Luis R. Gómez-Mejía, Katalin Takács-Haynes, Manuel Núñez-Nickel, Kathryn J. L. Jacobson & José-Moyano Fuentes for “Socioemotional wealth and business risks in family-controlled firms: Evidence from Spanish olive oil mills” published in 2007 in Administrative Science Quarterly.

2012 Royston Greenwood & Roy Suddaby (U. of Alberta) for “Institutional entrepreneurship in mature fields: The Big Five accounting firms” published in 2006 in Academy of Management Journal.

2011 Ted Baker (North Carolina State University) & Reed Nelson (Southern Illinois University), for “Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage,” published in 2005 in Administrative Science Quarterly.

2010 Steve Maguire (McGill University), Cynthia Hardy (University of Melbourne) & Thomas B. Lawrence (Simon Fraser University) for “Institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields: HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy in Canada,” published in 2004 in Academy of Management Journal.

Entrepreneurship Practice Award

This award honors a publication in any form of media that has been especially effective at advancing the practice of entrepreneurship. Key criteria are the quality of the publication and its impact on the practice of entrepreneurship. Division members nominate papers for the award, and a committee convened by the Chair of the Division’s Practitioner-Scholars Committee selects the winner from among the nominated papers. 

Click here for information on the 2024 nomination process.

Award Winners

2023 Michael H. Morris (University of Notre Dame) for “Urban Poverty and Business Initiative.”

2022 Betsy Campbell (Penn State University) for “The Cape, Community Advancing Pluralism in Entrepreneurship."

2019-2021 No Award 

2018 Richard Harrison (University of Edinburgh) & Colin Mason (University of Glasgow) for "Stimulating the Supply of and Demand for Business Angel Finance in the UK Since 1991.”

2017 Michael H Morris (University of Florida), Xaver Neumeyer (University of North Dakota) and Donald F Kuratko (Indiana University) for “A Portfolio Perspective on Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.”

2016 Dawn R DeTienne (Colorado State University) and Melissa S Cardon (Pace University) for “Impact of founder experience on exit intentions.”

2015 No award

2014 Noam Wasserman (Harvard Business School) for “The Founder's Dilemmas.”

Awards for Conference Papers

For the four program awards, the PDW chair, Jon Carr, selected 21 papers, which were nominated by program reviewers. Then, the 20-person research committee selected one winner per category, using 5 criteria and an overall ranking for robustness. Each manuscript was reviewed by at least 5 committee members.

Best Empirical Paper Award

Supported by the Coles College at the Kennesaw State University. This award honors the best empirical paper of the ENT Division presented at the Academy of Management annual meeting in a given year. All empirical papers accepted for presentation at the annual meeting are eligible for the award. The ENT Division Program Chair nominates a subset of the eligible papers for this award, and the ENT Division Research Committee selects a winner from among the nominated papers. 

Award Winners

2023 Diego Jannace (Bocconi University) and Arnaldo Camuffo (Bocconi University) for “Curbing the Addition Bias: Scientific Approaches and Propensity to Subtract in Entrepreneurial Ideas.”

2022 Amir Sariri (Purdue University) for “Are Angel Investors More Likely than Venture Capitalists to Drive Entrepreneurial Experimentation?”

2021 Tommaso Minola (University of Bergamo), Massimo Baù (Jonkoping International Business School), Phillip Sieger (University of Bern), Alfredo De Massis (Free University of Bozen and Lancaster University), and Francesco Chirico (Macquarie Business School) for "Slack and Performance in Family Owned SMEs: An Agency Theory Perspective."

2020 Gabi Anja Kafka (Utrecht University), Raja Singaram (University of New Mexico & LM Thapar SOM), and Jeroen Kraaijenbrink (University of Amsterdam) for “New Venture Creation and the Development of Entrepreneurial Cognition: A Longitudinal Analysis of Startup Diaries.”

2019 Ben Spigel (University of Edinburgh) and Tara Vinodrai (University of Waterloo) for "Meeting Its Waterloo? Recycling in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems After Anchor Firm Collapse."

2018 Laura Aline Bechthold (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition) and Laura Rosendahl Huber (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition) for "Yes, I can! - A Field Experiment on Female Role Model Effects in Entrepreneurship."

2017 Xu Han for “Workplace Specialization, Individual Intra-Firm Experience Diversity Entrepreneurship.”

2016 Cetric Gutierrez and Thomas Astebro for “The impact of overconfidence on excess entry.”

2015 Kilian Moser, Andranik Tumasjan, & Isabell Melanie Welpe for "Small, but attractive: the effect of employer branding and legitimacy on startup attractiveness."

2014 Rene Bakker (Queensland U. of Technology), Dean Shepherd (Indiana U.), & Per Davidsson (Queensland U. of Technology) for "When to pull the plug and when to take the plunge: Timing strategic decisions about new ventures."

2013 Daniel Thomas Chaffin (Michigan State), Ralph A. Heidl (Michigan State), Mukund Chari ( of Washington) & Roger Calantone (Michigan State) for "The role of examiner workload and applicant reputation in intellectual property protection."

2012 Brad N. Greenwood & Anand Gopal (University of Maryland) for "'Tigerblood': Availability cascades, social media, and the environment of the entrepreneurial process."

2011 Justin B. Craig (Bond University), Clay Dibrell (University of Mississippi), Donald O. Neubaum (Oregon State University) & Christopher H. Thomas (University of Mississippi) for “Stewardship climate scale: Measurement and an assessment of reliability and validity.”

2010 Shaker Zahra (University of Minnesota) & Johan Wiklund (Syracuse University) for “Top management team characteristics and new ventures’ product innovation.”

Best Conceptual Paper Award

This award honors the best conceptual paper of the ENT Division presented at the Academy of Management annual meeting in a given year. All conceptual papers accepted for presentation at the annual meeting are eligible for the award. The ENT Division Program Chair nominates a subset of the eligible papers for this award, and the ENT Division Research Committee selects a winner from among the nominated papers. 

Award Winners

2023 Jeffery S. McMullen (Indiana University), Jason R. Fitzsimmons (Manipal International University), Khyati Shetty (University of the Fraser Valley), and Stratos Ramoglou (University of Southampton) for “A Temporal Typology of Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Implications for the Urgency and Timing of Entrepreneurial Action.”

2022 Andreas Leubner (TUM School of Management) and Siddharth Vedula (TUM School of Management) for “Looking Back to Speed Forward: Origins, Evolution, Path Forward for Corporate Accelerator Research.”

2021 David Townsend (Virginia Tech University) and Richard Hunt (Virginia Tech University) for “Are the Futures Computable? Knightian Uncertainty & Artificial Intelligence.”

2020 Lee Grumbles (Baylor University), Duygu Phillips (Oklahoma State University), and Matthew Rutherford (Oklahoma State University) for “Opaque Costly Signals and Debt Contracts in Entrepreneurial Ventures.” 

2019 David Matthew Townsend (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) and Richard Hunt (Virginia Tech) for "Addressing Entrepreneurship’s False Dichotomization of Risk and Uncertainty through Modal Logics.”

2018 Matthew Steven Wood (Baylor University) & Rene Bakker (Kelley School of Business/Indiana University) for "A Temporal View of Entrepreneurial Opportunities.”

2017 Daniel Lerner, Richard Hunt and Dimo Dimov for “Following the Muse: Non-Deliberative, Unreasoned Nascent-Stage Venturing.”

2016 Steffen Jahn and Mario Geissler for “The motivational readiness model of entrepreneurship.”

2015 Panayiotis G. Georgallis and Brandon H. Lee for "Social movements and market entry: A synthesis and extension."

2014 Ratan Dheer (Florida Atlantic U.) for “Cognitive Implications of Acculturation: Impact on Entrepreneurial Intentions.”

2013 William R. Forster (Lehigh U.) & Anusha Ramesh (Indian Inst. of Mgmt., Bangalore) for “From Goldilocks to Gump: A research agenda for entrepreneurial mechanism design.”

2012 Per Davidsson (Queensland U. of Technology) for “Entrepreneurial opportunity and the entrepreneurship nexus: A reconceptualization.”

2011 Matthew Rodgers (Ohio State University) & Daniel Han Ming Chng (Sungkyunkwan University) for “A model of stigma failure threat on entrepreneurs’ strategic behaviors during new venture distress.”

2010 James K. Hazy (Adelphi University), Jeffrey Goldstein (Adelphi University) & Joyce Silberstang (Adelphi University) for “A complexity model of innovation and entrepreneurship: context, mechanisms, and emergence.”

Best Family Business Paper

Supported by the Cox Family Enterprise Center at the Kennesaw State University. This award honors the best paper of the ENT Division concerned with business that is presented at the Academy of Management annual meeting in a given year. All papers accepted for presentation at the annual meeting that focus on family business are eligible for the award. The ENT Division Program Chair nominates a subset of the eligible papers for this award, and the ENT Division Research Committee selects a winner from among the nominated papers. 

Award Winners

2023 Matthias Waldkirch (EBS University for Business and Law), Leif Melin (Jönköping International Business School), and Mattias Nordqvist (Stockholm School of Economics) for “Too Much of a Good Thing? Professionalization as a Multiple Practice Adoption in a Family Firm.”

2022 Yanlong Zhang (Guanghua School of Management), Chi-Nien Chung (NUS Business School), and Yijie Min (Guanghua School of Management) for “A Straw in the Wind: Media Opinion on the Family and Analyst Responses During Family Firm Succession.”

2021 Rolf Wilmes (University of Hohenheim), Leif Brändle (University of Hohenheim), and Andreas Kuckertz (University of Hohenheim) for “Families’ entrepreneurial heritage transfer improves organizational ambidexterity through succession.”

2020 No award

2019 Nonyelum Lina Eze (ESADE Business School/Ramon Llull Universitat), Georges Samara (American University of Beirut), and Maria Jose Parada (ESADE Business School/Ramon Llull Universitat) for "Hakuna Matata! Cross-Regional Differences in the Entrepreneurial Capital of Family Firms."

2018 Zografia Bika (University of East Anglia), & Simy Joy (University of East Anglia & Center for Social Innovation, Michigan Tech) for "Family Business as a Longstanding Hybrid Organisation: Logic Revision as a Strategy for Maintenance."

2017 Jasper Brinkerink, Anita van Gils and M.A. Carree for “Collaborative NPD: A Mixed-Method Approach to Partner Selection in Family and Nonfamily SMEs.”

2016 David Scott Jiang, Franz W. Kellermanns, Timothy P Munyon, and Michael Lane Morris for “The family ties that bind: How emotion and family system dynamics preserve socioemotional wealth.”

2015 Thomas Rieg, Sabine B. Rau, Franz W. Kellermanns for "Measuring the family: Development of scales for the assessment of business-owning families."

2014 Amanda Christensen (Arizona State U. ), Luiz Mesquita (Arizona State U.), Marcos Hashimoto (Faculdade Campo Limpo Paulista), Peter Hom (Arizona State U.) & Luis Gomez-Mejia (U. of Notre Dame) for “Socio-emotional Wealth and a Stakeholder View of Family Firm Productivity.”

2013 Vanessa M. Strike (Erasmus U. Rotterdam), Stephen G. Sapp (U. of Western Ontario) & Lorenzo Congiu (Independent scholar) for “Leaving a legacy of transgenerational success: The effect of socioemotional wealth on CEO career horizons in family firms.

2012 Maria-José Casasola Martinez (U. Carlos III de Madrid) & Roberto García-Castro (IESE) for “Revisiting the Link between Family Involvement in Business and Performance: A Set-theoretic Approach.”

2011 Reg Litz (University of Manitoba) & Nick Turner (University of Manitoba) for “Sins of the father’s firm: Exploring responses to ethical dilemmas in family business.”

2010 Yannick Bammens (Maastricht University), Anita Van Gils (Maastricht University) & Wim Voordeckers (Hasselt University) for “The role of family involvement in fostering an innovation-supportive stewardship culture.”

Best Social Entrepreneurship Paper

This award honors the best paper of the ENT Division concerned with social entrepreneurship that is presented at the Academy of Management annual meeting in a given year. All papers accepted for presentation at the annual meeting that focus on social entrepreneurship are eligible for the award. The ENT Division Program Chair nominates a subset of the eligible papers for this award, and the ENT Division Research Committee selects a winner from among the nominated papers. 

Award Winners

2023 Fangjie Wang (University of Warwick), Mona Mensmann (University of Cologne), and Nicos Nicolaou (University of Warwick) for “Social Entrepreneurs Emerging from Adversity: A Perspective of Identity Construction via Sensemaking.”

2022 Furkan Amil Gur (Northern Illinois University), Christine Mooney (Northern Illinois University), Blake Mathias (Indiana University) for “The Co-Evolutionary Process of Venture Identity Formation in the Era of Pivots.”

2021 Shu Yang (Hofstra University), Romi Kher (City University of New York, Baruch College), and Scott Newbert (City University of New York, Baruch College) for “The Liability of Gender: Examining Investment Gaps in Male- and Female-led nascent social ventures.”

2020 Alexandra Mittermaier, (Technische U. München) and Holger Patzelt (Technische U. München) for “Organizing for Hybridity: The Role of Self-Interest Motivations in Social Venture Creation.” 

2019 Jiawei Sophia Fu (Rutgers University) for "Institutional Complexity in Social Ventures: Scale Development through Two Studies."

2018 Tamaki Onishi (University of North Carolina, ), Andrew Curtis Burkemper (Coker College), Evelyn Rita Micelotta (University of New Mexico), & William John Wales (University of Albany/SUNY) for "An Effectual Perspective on How Social Entrepreneurs Select, and Orchestrate Resources."

2017 Helen Haugh and Kate Sugar for “Social Entrepreneur Strategizing: Making Sense of Conflicting Demands.”

2016 Christian Busch and Harry G Barkema for “How and why the social network of social entrepreneurs in low-income contexts influence performance.”

2015 Sanjay Jain and James L. Koch for "Articulated embedding in market development for underserved communities: The case of clean energy."

2014 Ted Ladd (Case Western Reserve U.) for “Business Models at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Leveraging Context in Underdeveloped Markets.”

2013 Geoffrey Desa (San Francisco State U.) & Sandip Basu (California State U., East Bay) for “Social ventures and market scalability role of stakeholder-based collective agency.”

2012 Thomas H. Allison (U. of Oklahoma) & David M. Townsend (U. of Oklahoma) for “Wisdom of the Crowd? Reputational Cascades and Emotional Contagion in Microlender Crowdfunding.”

2011 Aparna Katre (Case Western Reserve University) & Paul Salipante (Case Western Reserve University) for “Roadmap for the creation and survival of nascent social entrepreneurial ventures.”

2010 Robin Stevens (University College, Ghent) & Nathalie Moray (University College, Ghent) for “Social and economic proclivity of social entrepreneurs: dimensions, measurement, and validation.”

Dissertation Awards

Heizer Dissertation Award

Sponsored by the Heizer Corporation & Heizer family. This award was established in 1976 by Ned Heizer, Jr. and is the oldest dissertation award within the Academy. The award honors outstanding doctoral research that deals with the founding, management, growth, and development of high potential new ventures, with venture capital, or with corporate entrepreneurship.

Eligibility for the award in a given year is open to those individuals who completed all the requirements for a doctoral degree (excepting ceremonies) in the prior year. Nominations, including self-nominations, are solicited from Division members. Adjudication is coordinated by the ENT Division Chair-Elect with the aid of a committee of accomplished scholars appointed for this purpose. The award carries a cash prize of $1,500.

Click here for the call of 2024 Awards

Award Winners

2023 Jungkyu Suh (New York University) for the dissertation titled “Essays on Science and Innovation.” 

2022 Amir Sariri (Purdue University) for the dissertation titled “Three Essays on the Role of Information in the Development of Early-Stage Startups.” 

2021 Jiaju (Justin) Yan (Baylor University) for the dissertation titled, “Exploring The Unknown Requires Leveraging Uncertainty: Two Essays On A Real Options Perspective On The Pattern And Decision Making Of Entrepreneurial Internationalization.

2020 Laura Lecluyse (Ghent University) for the dissertation titled, “Opening up the black box of science park effectiveness.”

2019 Cheng Gao (Ross School of Business/University of Michigan) for his dissertation titled "Strategy and Entrepreneurship in Nascent Industries."

2018 Marius Tuft Mathisen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) for his dissertation titled "The Growth of Research-Based Spin-offs: Unleashing the Value of Academic Entrepreneurship."

2017 Arjan Frederiks (University of Twente) for “On the use of Imagination by Entrepreneurs.”

2016 Lien Denoo (Ghent University) for “Antecedents and performance implications of new ventures' business model development processes in the mobile health industry.”

2015 Sergio Costa (University of Porto) for "Business model change in early-stage university spinoffs.”

2014 Yuliya Snihur (IESE Business School) for “Business Model Innovation: Exploring the Concept, its Antecedents Consequences.”

2013 Laura Huang (U. of Pennsylvania) for “A test of the impact of gut feel on entrepreneurial investment decisions.”

2012 Andrew L. Maxwell (U. of Waterloo) for “Business Angel Decision Making.”

2011 David W. Williams (Georgia State University) for “Why do different new ventures internationalize differently? A cognitive model of entrepreneurs' internationalization decisions.”

2010 Nathan Furr (Brigham Young University) for “Cognitive Flexibility: The Adaptive Reality of Concrete Organizational Change.”

NFIB Dissertation Award

Sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Research Foundation. This award honors outstanding doctoral research that deals with the founding, financing, marketing, growth, and development of independent small businesses, family businesses, and minority businesses. Eligibility for the award in a given year is open to those individuals who completed all the requirements for a doctoral degree (excepting ceremonies) in the prior year. Nominations, including self-nominations, are solicited from Division members, and adjudication is coordinated by the ENT Division Chair-Elect with the aid of a committee of accomplished scholars appointed for this purpose. The award carries a cash prize of $2,500.

Click here for the call of 2024 Awards

Award Winners

2023 Katrina M. Brownell (University of Southern California) for the dissertation titled “Social Influence, Power, and Control: The Dark and Destructive Side of Entrepreneurship.”

2022 Kylie Jiwon Hwang (Stanford University) for the dissertation titled “Entrepreneurship and Incarceration.”

2021 Russell E. Browder (University of Oklahoma) for the dissertation, “Intermediation and disintermediation of resources for entrepreneurship and innovation in the maker movement.”

2020 Theodor Lucian (Vladasel Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics) for the dissertation, “Embracing Heterogeneity: Essays in Entrepreneurship and Human Capital.”

2019 Eliana Crosina (Babson College) for “Start me up: On becoming an entrepreneur in a shared workspace."

2018 Steven M. Gray (University of Texas/McCombs School of Business) for his dissertation titled "Exploring Functional Homophily in New Venture Team Formation."

2017 Christoph Mandl (University of Hohenheim) for “Valuable Learning Experience or Stigmatizing Event? Three Studies Exploring Entrepreneurs' Lives Subsequent to Business Failure.”

2016 Gabriella Cacciotti (Warwick Business School, University of Warwick) for “Fair of failure in entrepreneurship: a review, reconceptualization operationalization.”

2015 No Award

2014 Richard A. Hunt (U. of Colorado) for “Essays concerning the entry and survival strategies of entrepreneurial firms: A transaction perspective.”

2013 Elena Kulchina (Duke U.) for “Three essays on foreign entrepreneurs.”

2012 Nicola Breugst (TU München) for “Entrepreneurial behavior in social contexts: The role of families, teams employees for entrepreneurial individuals.”

2011 Alejandro S. Amezcua (Syracuse University) for “Boon or Boondoggle? Business Incubation as Entrepreneurship Policy.”

2010 Karl Wennberg (Stockholm School of Economics) for “Entrepreneurial Exit.”

Other Awards

Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award

Sponsored by Yeshiva University. This award honors excellence in the area of instruction. Eligibility for the award is open to individuals and organizations engaged in innovative teaching practices and is open to all teaching methods. Nominations, including self-nominations, are solicited from Division members. Adjudication is determined by the ENT Division Teaching Committee. The award carries a cash prize of $1500. More information on this award is available here.

Click here for information on the 2024 award

Award Winners

2023 Derek Lidow (Princeton University) for the “History of Entrepreneurship

2022 Deepak Hegde (New York University) for the “Endless Frontier Labs"

2021 Erin Scott (MIT), Joshua Gans (University of Toronto), and Scott Stern (MIT) for “Entrepreneurial Strategy

2020 Betsy Campbell (Pennsylvania State University) for “Accelerator Rap”

2019 Derek Lidow (Princeton University) for “Creativity, Innovation, and Design”

2018 Abby Fifer Mandell (University of Southern California) for “Social Innovation Design Lab”

2017 Charlotte R Ren (Temple University) for “The Social Entrepreneurial Approach to Community Reintegration”

2016 Ethan Mollick (University of Pennsylvania) for “Alternate Reality Teaching of Entrepreneurship”

2015 Craig Armstrong (University of Alabama) for “New Venture Development from Opportunity to Crowdfunding Campaign”

2014 Lisa Jones Christensen (U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) for “Sustainability Leadership”

2013 Reginald A. Litz (U. of Manitoba) for “Entrepreneurship as a tool of liberation and oppression”

2012 Linda Sama (St. John’s University) for “’GLOBE’ (Global Loan Opportunities for Budding Entrepreneurs), an undergraduate social entrepreneurship course”

2011 Eric Noyes (Babson College), Heidi Neck (Babson College) & Steve Schiffman (Babson College) for “Social Entrepreneurship by Design”

2010 Noam Wasserman (Harvard University) for “The Founder’s Dilemma”

Career service awards

The Division offers two career service awards that recognize long-term contributions made toward the mission of the Division. The Mentor Award recognizes extraordinary contributions in the area of mentoring, and the Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award recognizes other contributions made by individuals and organizations, including those made in the areas of advocacy, outreach, service. The Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award is given to individuals or organizations for activities that have significantly advanced the field of entrepreneurship.

Click here for information on the nomination process of the Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award

Click here for information on the nomination process of the Mentor Award

Award Winners

Mentor Award

2023 Maria Minniti

2022 Jeffery McMullen

2021 Michael A. Hitt

2020 Lowell W. Busenitz

2019 Marc Gruber 

2018 Tom Lumpkin

2017 Charles H Matthews

2016 Andrew Zacharakis

2015 David Audretsch

2014 Donald F. Kuratko

2013 Per Davidsson

2012 Sophie Manigart

2011 Johan Wiklund

2009 Mike Wright

2008 Dean Shepherd

2007 Howard Aldrich

2006 Shaker Zahra

2005 Jeff Covin

2003 Harry Sapienza

2001 Candida Brush

2000 Jerome Katz

1998 Howard Stevenson

1997 Dale Meyer

1995 Max Wortman

1994 Ian MacMillan

1993 Arnold Cooper

1992 Charles Hofer

1991 Frank Hoy


Other Service Awards

In 2012, the Division consolidated several pre-existing service awards into a single award, the “Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award”. Those listed below through 2007 were awarded the “Advocate Award unless otherwise noted.

2023 Jeffery S. McMullen

2022 Jill Kickul 

2021 Moren Lévesque and Shaker Zahra

2020 Norris Krueger

2018 No award

2017 Dean A Shepherd

2016 Candida Brush, Michael Frese, and William Gartner

2014 Michael H. Morris

2013 D. Ray Bagby

2012 Paul D. Reynolds

2007 Donald Kuratko, Charles Hofer*, Timothy Reed*, Kelly Shaver*

2006 Denny Dennis

2005 Max Wortman

2001 George Solomon

2000 Kauffman Center

1999 Charles Hofer

1998 Gerald Hills

1997 Donald Sexton

1996 Elizabeth Gatewood

1995 Coleman Foundation, Jerome Katz**

1994 Price-Babson Fellows

1993 Karl Vesper

1992 Ned Heizer

1989 Charles Hofer**

* Awarded the “Extraordinary Service Award”
**Awarded the “Outstanding Contributions Award”

Emerging Scholar Awards

The Award is given to scholars whose record of research demonstrates the potential to make innovative and impactful contributions to the body of entrepreneurship research. There were 6 nominations in 2022. The research committee selected the winner. There were 5 reviewers for each nomination.

Click here for the call for 2024 Awards

Click here for the 2019 winners

Click here for the 2018 winners

2023 Award Winner
Aaron H. Anglin (Texas Christian University)

2022 Award Winner
Regan Stevenson (Indiana University)

2021 Award Winner
Alex Kier (Washington State University)

2020 Award Winners
Rob Nason (McGill University)
Dana Kanze (London Business School)

2019 Award Winners

Sophie Bacq (Northeastern University)

Trent Williams (Indiana University)

Eric Zhao (Indiana University)

2018 Award Winners

Laura Huang

Matthew Grimes

Greg Fisher

Best Reviewer Awards

Each year the Division also recognizes individuals who provide especially high-quality reviews of submissions made to the annual meeting. The awards are based on scores from the authors whose papers were reviewed. 


2023 Award Winners

• Elie Abi Saad*
• Ona Akemu
• Jared Shaw Allen
• Amitabh Anand
• Sophia Braun*
• Devin Burnell*
• Pascal Dey
• Suho Han
• Andrew Jay Isaak
• Shilong Jia*
• Norris F. Krueger
• Michele Lafleur Leaver*
• Jose Lejarraga
• Benjamin David McLarty
• Matteo Opizzi*
• Jeanne Roche*
• Anne-Sophie Sabbatucci*
• Esther Salvi*
• Mahdi Shahriari*
• Curtis Sproul
• Xiangming Tao
• Liza Pamm Tyl*
• Viktoria Luise Unger*
• Benjamin Warnick
• David W. Williams
• Marcus Wolfe
• David Wunder*

* Denotes a Ph.D. Student

Discontinued Awards

IDEA Thought Leader Awards

Given until 2012.

Award Winners

2012 Emmanuelle Fauchart (BSL-Lausanne) & Marc Gruber (EPFL) for “Darwinians, communitarians missionaries: The role of founder identity in entrepreneurship,” published in 2011 in Academy of Management Journal.

Chad Navis (University of Wisconsin) & Mary Ann Glynn (Boston College) for “Legitimate distinctiveness and the entrepreneurial identity: Influence on investor judgments of new venture plausibility,” published in 2011 in Academy of Management Review.

Garry Bruton (Texas Christian U.), Susanna Khavul (U. of Texas, Arlington), & Helmuth Chavez (U. Francisco Marroquin) for “Microfinance in emerging economies: Building a new line of inquiry from the ground up,” published in 2011 in the Journal of International Business Studies.

2011 Denis Gregoire (Georgia State University), Pamela S. Barr (Georgia State University) & Dean A. Shepherd (Indiana University) for “Cognitive processes of opportunity recognition: the role of structural alignment,” published in 2010 in Organization Science.

Chad Navis (University of Wisconsin) & Mary Ann Glynn (Boston College) for “How new market categories emerge: temporal dynamics of legitimacy, identity entrepreneurship in Satellite Radio, 1990-2005,” published in 2010 in Administrative Science Quarterly.

Marilyn A. Uy (University of Victoria), Maw-Der Foo (University of Colorado—Boulder), & Herman Aguinis (Indiana University) for “Using experience sampling methodology to advance entrepreneurship theory and research,” published in 2010 in Organizational Research Methods.

2010 Christopher Bingham (U. of North Carolina) for “Oscillating improvisation: How entrepreneurial firms create success in foreign market entries over time,” published in 2009 in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

Melissa Cardon (Pace U.), Joakim Wincent (Lulea U. of Technology), Jagdip Singh (Case Western Reserve U.) and Mateja Drnovsek (U. of Ljubljana) for “The nature and experience of entrepreneurial passion,” published in 2009 in Academy of Management Review.

John Dencker (U. of Illinois), Marc Gruber (EPFL) and Sonali Shah (U. of Washington) for “Individual and opportunity factors influencing job creation in new firms,” published in 2009 in Academy of Management Journal.

Pinar Ozcan (IESE) and Kathleen Eisenhardt (Stanford U.) for “Origin of alliance portfolios: Entrepreneurs, network strategies and firm performance,” published in 2009 in Academy of Management Journal.

2009 Pollock, T.G., Rindova, V.P. & Maggitti, P.G. "Market watch: Information and availability cascades among the media and investors in the U.S. IPO market," published in 2008 in Academy of Management Journal.

Note: In all award categories, the Division reserves the right to not confer an award if those charged with adjudicating the award determine that no award is warranted in a given year.