Call for Papers – Special Issue for Organization
'CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH'
Guest Editors:
Deirdre Tedmanson, University of South Australia (Australia); Caroline Essers, Radboud University of Nijmegen, (Netherlands); Karen Verduyn, VU University in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and William B. Gartner, Clemson University (USA)
Deadline: 1st May 2011
[Entrepreneurship] can be seen as the study of sources of opportunities; the processes of discovery, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities; and the set of individuals who discover, evaluate, and exploit them (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000: 218)
The purpose of this Special Issue of Organization is to explore the 'taken for granted' norms of entrepreneurship scholarship as a whole including its ideologies, dominant assumptions, grand narratives, samples and methods. Even though entrepreneurship is a very diverse phenomenon that calls for divergence and multiplicity in understanding it, the majority of entrepreneurship research is still functionalist in nature (Jennings et al, 2005). There seems to be a normative assumption that entrepreneurship is a good thing and that 'the more entrepreneurs the merrier' (cf. Weiskopf and Steyaert, 2009). Entrepreneurship has been increasingly eulogised in dominant neo-liberal policy discourses, infiltrating seemingly unrelated aspects of social life in potent, but seemingly innocuous ways (Armstrong, 2005) and few studies have aimed at 'peeling away' these 'layers of ideological obscuration' (Martin, 1990).
This Special Issue seeks to interrogate this form of entrepreneurialism for how it privileges certain forms of economic action, while implying other more collective forms of organization and exchange are somehow problematic. We aim to explore how political and socio-cultural factors influence entrepreneurial processes, identities and activities and to extend entrepreneurship research horizons by highlighting new critiques and contexts that challenge neo-liberal orthodoxies.
Recently, Jones and Spicer (2009) have exposed the interconnections between conceptual and political representations of entrepreneurship in an effort to reveal what lies behind the smiling mask. Rindova et al. (2009) have suggested entrepreneurship scholarship move away from a focus on wealth creation as a dominant motive for starting a venture. Pio (2005), Ahl (2004) and Essers and Benschop (2007) have sought to give 'voice' to other entrepreneurial subjectivities than those traditionally privileged, and to challenge the mystification of 'the entrepreneur' based on essentialist conceptualisations of the archetypical male, 'white' entrepreneur. Calas, et al (2009) have used feminist theoretical perspectives to argue for the opening up of new spaces that make room for a Critical Entrepreneurship Studies (CES). Gartner (2005) and Hjorth and Steyaert (2009) have explored the complexity of social dynamics involved. By reframing entrepreneurship studies as 'social change', critical scholars seek to shift boundaries and offer possibilities for more political and transformative perspectives to emerge.
This Special Issue aims to make space for new critical, ethical and political perspectives on entrepreneurship. We encourage reflexive analyses that illuminate the messy, heterogeneous and problematic nature of entrepreneurship. We seek to build on previous and current critical efforts (e.g. but not limited to: Nodoushani & Nodoushani, 1999; Ogbor, 2000; Armstrong, 2005; Steyaert, and Hjorth 2007; Hjorth and Steyaert; 2009; Essers; 2009; Jones and Spicer, 2009; Calas et al, 2009) and to bring this discussion more into the mainstream of organizational scholarship.
We see the following 'modes' as key themes in a critical scholarship that will open new spaces in entrepreneurship research: the methodological - which highlights limitations of research method; the deconstructive - where the focus is on offering alternative views of the same 'reality'; the epistemic - which includes reflecting on scholars' own roles in 're-authoring' entrepreneurial scripts; the postcolonial - which looks at the imperialising effects of dominant discourses privileging the Eurocentric archetypical entrepreneur as 'supreme', 'white' and 'male'; and the political-economic – which aims to reveal the hegemonic effects of particular entrepreneurialism/s and the ideological interests such interpretations serve. More social constructivist and reflexive approaches are also welcome. We invite a wide variety of contributions which provide critical perspectives on entrepreneurship by:
- Questioning ideologies/dominant assumptions/grand narratives in entrepreneurship;
- Deconstructing dominant stories: providing 'other sides' of dominant stories, as well as shedding light on the 'darker sides' of entrepreneurship;
- Analyzing the discursively constructed identities of diverse groups of entrepreneurs in relation to popular entrepreneurship discourse and other social meta-narratives;
- Re-examining the identification and selection of individuals to represent both 'entrepreneurs' and 'non-entrepreneurs' in research studies;
- Exploring the appropriateness of various quantitative and qualitative methodologies used in entrepreneurship scholarship;
· Analysing the socio cultural dynamics of entrepreneurship scholarship;
· Critiquing the dominant ideologies that construct particular political economies of entrepreneurialism.
Above we have included only a few critical perspectives in entrepreneurship studies. We also welcome other creative, interesting and innovative approaches that will contribute to the field of Critical Entrepreneurship Studies. We invite you to submit work along the lines above or to include any other critical theme or turn that you consider relevant.
Submission: Papers must be submitted electronically by 1st May 2011 to SAGETrack at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/organization
Papers should be no more than 8,000 words, excluding references, and will be blind reviewed following the journal's standard review process. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines published in Organization and on the journal's website: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?level1=600&currTree=Subjects&catLevel1=&prodId=Journal200981
For further information, please contact one of the guest editors:
Deirdre Tedmanson (deirdre.tedmanson@unisa.edu.au); Caroline Essers (c.essers@fm.ru.nl); Karen Verduyn (kverduyn@feweb.vu.nl) or William B. Gartner (gartner@clemson.edu)
References:
Ahl, H. (2004). The Scientific Reproduction of Gender Inequality; A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Women's Entrepreneurship. Malmö: Liber AB.
Armstrong, P. (2005). Critique of Entrepreneurship: People ad Policy, Palgrave MacMillan, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">New York</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">NY</st1:state></st1:place>
Calas, M., Smircich, L. & Bourne, K. (2009). Extending the boundaries: reframing 'entrepreneurship as social change' through feminist perspectives. Academy of Management Review, 34(3).
Davidsson, P., & Wiklund, J. 2001. Levels of analysis in entrepreneurship research: Current research practice and suggestions for the future. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 25: 81–99.
Essers, C. and Benschop, Y. (2007). Enterprising Identities: Female Entrepreneurs of Moroccan and Turkish Origin in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Netherlands</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Organization Studies, 28(1), 49-69.
Essers, C. (2009). Reflections on the narrative approach; dilemmas of power, emotions and social location while constructing life-stories. Organization, 16(2), 163-181.
Gartner, W. B. (2004). Achieving "Critical Mess" in entrepreneurship scholarship." In J. A. Katz and D. Shepherd (eds.), Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence, and Growth. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Greenwich</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">CT</st1:state></st1:place>, pp. 199-216
Hjorth, D. and Steyaert, C. (Ed.) (2009). The Politics and Aesthetics of Entrepreneurship. A fourth Movements in Entrepreneurship Book. <st1:place w:st="on">Cheltenham</st1:place>: Edward Elgar.
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jennings</st1:place></st1:city>, P., Perren, L., and Carter, S. (2005). Guest Editors' Introduction: Alternative Perspectives on Entrepreneurship Research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(2), 145-152.
Johnson, P. and J. Duberley (2003). Reflexivity in Management Research. Journal of Management Studies. 40(5). 1279-1304
Jones, C and Spicer, A (2009) Unmasking the Entrepreneur, Edward Elgar, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>
Martin, J. (1990) Organizational Taboos: The Suppression of Gender Conflict in Organizations. Organization Science, 1(4), p. 339-359.
Nodoushani, O. and Nodoushani, P.A. (1999) A Deconstructionist Theory of Entrepreneurship: A Note, American Business Review, 17(1), 45-49.Ogbor, J. (2000) Mythicizing and reification in entrepreneurial discourse: ideology-critique of entrepreneurial studies. Journal of Management Studies, 37(5), p. 605-635.
Perren, L. and P. Jennings (2005). Government Discourses on Entrepreneurship: Issues of legitimization, Subjugation, and Power, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(2), 173-184.
Pio, E. (2005). Knotted strands: Working lives of Indian women migrants in New Zealand. Human Relations, 58(10), 1277-1300
Rindova, V., Barry, D. and Ketchen, D. (2009). Entrepreneuring as emancipation. Academy of Management Review, 34(3).
Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place> Review, 25: 217–26.
Steyaert, C., & Hjorth, D. (2007). Entrepreneurship as social change. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cheltenham</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place>: Edward Elgar.
Weiskopf, R. & Steyaert, C. (2009). Metamorphoses in entrepreneurship studies: towards affirmative politics of entrepreneuring. In: Hjorth, D. & Steyaert, C. (Ed.) (2009). The Politics and Aesthetics of Entrepreneurship. A fourth Movements in Entrepreneurship Book. <st1:place w:st="on">Cheltenham</st1:place>: Edward Elgar.