(posted on behalf of @Trenton Williams, Program Chair)
Dear Entrepreneurship Division Members,
As we prepare for this year’s Academy of Management conference, I want to extend my sincere thanks to all of you who stepped forward to serve as reviewers for our program. With more than 1,400 submissions this year, the success of our program quite literally depends on your willingness to engage in this process. Your time, care, and thoughtful feedback are what make it possible for us to maintain the quality and rigor of our division.
As I stated in my call for reviewers, you do a great service to our community when you jump in and provide constructive feedback to others—even if an assigned paper does not fit just right (or seemingly not at all!) with your expertise. As the program chair, I see the human side of this, and so I thank you for doing the best you can. Sometimes you are providing feedback to a first time submitter. Other times to someone jumping back into research who is nervous yet eager to reengage. And also there are very experienced faculty members seeking critical input on their work. Regardless, we all are in need of feedback for our work—so thank you for providing that!
Reviewing, I know, is not always on the top of one’s list of joyful activities each year. However, if each of us is able to review even 1-3 papers each year then we would dramatically increase the quality, quantity, and value of feedback we all receive. Indeed, the cumulative effect of each person chipping in to review is what makes our division's program one of the strongest at AOM.
A few quick things as we head into the conference:
Sign up to review for next year— please! The easiest way to make sure we can keep making AOM a positive experience for submitters and participants is to set a reminder for yourself to review for AOM next year! I encourage you to sign up and make reviewing part of your annual community-engagement calendar (aom.org/events/reviewer-sign-up)
The program is continuing to take shape. AOM is working hard to finalize session and doing their best to navigate the multiple commitments many of you have. We encourage you to review the AOM Annual Meeting page for general updates. Division-specific updates will come through the Entrepreneurship Division channels.
In-person submission constraints, and other outlets/options. Poster presentations and online program submissions both saw a meaningful uptick this year, and AOM is clearly leaning into virtual participation as a way to grow beyond the physical limits of the in-person event. This is great because as we grow, we face limitations in physical space needed to host sessions.
Why does this matter for you? Unfortunately, we were only able to accept about 50% of submissions this year due to space constraints in the physical venue. However, for online presentations and to some degree the poster sessions, these constraints are not as severe. As you plan future submissions, we encourage you to consider these pathways for getting your work into AOM. In particular, posters and online sessions might be a great option for those new to AOM hoping to increase their chances of getting their work accepted.
Again, thank you for engaging with us as a division! We’re honored that you’re a member of the division and we value each of you and your unique contributions. I hope that if you spot me at the conference that you will please come say “hello.” Please do know that you’re an essential member of our community and we hope you’ll continue to engage with us for many years to come.
#AOM2026