Call for Papers
Understanding the Entrepreneurial Motivations, Dynamics, and Outcomes of First Fridays, Festivals, Farmer's Markets and other Community Events
Guest editors:
Jeffrey Chandler, University of North Texas
Jeremy Short, University of North Texas
Marcus Wolfe, University of North Texas
An increasing number of popularly frequented, but lightly studied, entrepreneurial events occur regularly at community meetups worldwide. At these events, individuals strive to create and enhance their community through a series of loosely organized gatherings that combine art, entertainment, and entrepreneurial promise often associated with small business owners or hobbyists that sell their wares to a location-based market often searching for goods and services viewed as at least somewhat unique from other mainstream offerings. These events are critical to entrepreneurs as they serve as a vehicle to expand their customer base, build awareness for their products and brands, and even test out new product offerings in their local markets.
One community-based gathering common in the United States includes 'First Friday' events often used to invigorate historic main street areas where artists sell their work, food trucks offer unique fare, and others sell crafts, clothes, and items of interests to those in attendance. Other popular examples of such community-based events worldwide include bazaars, farmers' markets, and community markets. For example, night markets have historically been popular in Chinese culture as a popular event to bring together community members and attract individuals to engage with local entrepreneurs, and such events are increasingly appearing in the United States as well. Furthermore, farmers markets have traditionally been a mainstay throughout Europe and the UK, and serve as popular centers for community activity and commerce.
Such contexts are generally unique from more established and formal settings, such as accelerator programs or university incubators, which might be well funded or have an established history of cultivating startups and their success. Instead, these community-based gatherings involve both social and economic development in an environment of relatively little formality and regulation that enhances the individuals involved as well as the surrounding community.
As a topic that has aspects of understanding established phenomena (e.g., bazaars that have existed for centuries) to more recent emerging trends among entrepreneurs (e.g., emerging art walks as cities seek to reinvigorate historic downtown areas), we invite scholars to shed light on this popular and growing movement. We welcome all types of potential contributions, novel ideas, and creative approaches to inform this topic.
More information here
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-business-venturing-insights/about/call-for-papers#understanding-the-entrepreneurial-motivations-dynamics-and-outcomes-of-first-fridays-festivals-farmer-s-markets-and-other-community-events