Over the past year , the Entrepreneurship Division's Global Scholar Development Committee (GSDC) continued its mission of supporting entrepreneurship scholars around the world by creating opportunities for learning, collaboration, mentorship, and research development. Through a series of webinars, paper development workshops, and mentoring initiatives, the committee has worked to strengthen scholarship grounded in diverse global contexts while fostering meaningful connections among researchers across continents.
Non-WEIRD Entrepreneurship Research Webinar
The committee launched the year with a highly successful virtual keynote, "Non-WEIRD Entrepreneurship Research," featuring Dean Shepherd on November 4.
The webinar attracted 326 registered participants, with 116 scholars attending the live session. Participants represented a remarkably balanced global audience, with approximately 50.5% joining from Non-Western (Non-WEIRD) contexts and 49.5% from Western (WEIRD) contexts, reflecting the committee's commitment to creating truly international conversations.
The session sparked important discussions about conducting entrepreneurship research beyond traditional Western contexts and demonstrated the growing interest in expanding the theoretical and empirical foundations of entrepreneurship scholarship.
Research Development Workshop: Out of (and Into) Africa Conference
In November, GSDC organized a virtual Research Development Workshop in conjunction with the Out of (and Into) Africa Conference. The workshop focused on helping scholars leverage African contexts to develop entrepreneurship research capable of making meaningful contributions to global conversations and publication in leading journals.
The committee received strong support from the academic community, with 190 senior scholars volunteering to serve as mentors. Following a competitive review process, 9 papers were evaluated, and 6 manuscripts were selected for personalized mentoring by internationally recognized entrepreneurship scholars.
The accepted papers addressed a broad range of topics, including indigenous entrepreneurship, women-owned SMEs, digital financial services, innovation governance, organizational performance, and youth employment in Africa. Each participating author received individualized developmental feedback designed to strengthen theoretical positioning, methodological rigor, and publication potential.
Research Development Workshop: Indian Academy of Management Conference
Building on the success of the Africa workshop, GSDC hosted an in-person Research Development Workshop at the Indian Academy of Management Conference on January 7.
Designed to support scholars using the Indian context to advance entrepreneurship theory, the workshop received 12 research proposals, with 7 scholars ultimately participating in intensive mentoring sessions.
The workshop was led by Raj Krishnan Shankar, with mentoring provided by distinguished scholars including Shaker Zahra, Raj Krishnan Shankar, and Surender Munjal. Participants received personalized feedback on research examining entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial ecosystems, women entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial crises, emotional exhaustion in scale-ups, and angel investment in tech ventures.
The workshop further strengthened GSDC's commitment to developing contextually grounded entrepreneurship research with global relevance.
Conducting Contextualized Entrepreneurship Research Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Data
In February, the committee organized another highly successful online workshop entitled "Conducting Contextualized Entrepreneurship Research Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Data."
Moderated by Mahsa Samsami, the workshop provided practical guidance on utilizing GEM data to conduct rigorous, context-sensitive entrepreneurship research.
Interest was exceptionally strong:
Beyond the instructional sessions, the committee received 15 paper proposals, selecting 13 papers for a developmental mentoring workshop.
A distinguished international mentoring team—including Brett Gilbert, Maria J. Sanchez-Bueno, Adriana Pérez Encinas, Natanya Mayer, Thomas Schøtt, Golshan Javadian, Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, Florian Täube, and Cesare Riillo—worked closely with scholars from around the world. Research topics covered institutional narratives, entrepreneurial ecosystems, gender and entrepreneurship, geopolitical risk, venture capital, employee entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, crisis entrepreneurship, and innovation across diverse international contexts.
The workshop exemplified GSDC's emphasis on combining methodological training with personalized research development to help scholars strengthen both theoretical contributions and publication readiness.
Looking Ahead: Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2026
GSDC will continue its momentum at the 2026 Academy of Management Annual Meeting with a featured session titled:
Entrepreneurship Research Using Non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) Contexts
This session reflects the committee's ongoing commitment to expanding entrepreneurship scholarship through greater engagement with diverse global contexts.
The first half of the session will feature a distinguished panel discussing their experiences publishing entrepreneurship research grounded in Non-WEIRD settings. Panelists include:
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Dean Shepherd
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Madeline Toubiana
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Raj Krishnan Shankar
Panelists will discuss strategies for positioning context-rich research in leading journals, addressing reviewer expectations, and leveraging Non-WEIRD contexts to generate novel theoretical contributions.
The second half of the session will feature a paper development workshop, where participants will receive direct feedback from panel experts to strengthen research design, theoretical framing, and publication potential.
Continuing Our Mission
Throughout the past year, the Global Scholar Development Committee has remained dedicated to fostering a more inclusive and globally connected entrepreneurship research community. By combining internationally accessible webinars, context-specific research development workshops, and personalized mentoring opportunities, GSDC has supported scholars across multiple regions while promoting entrepreneurship research that reflects the diversity of entrepreneurial activity around the world.
We thank our outstanding speakers, mentors, reviewers, and participants whose time and expertise have made these initiatives possible. We look forward to continuing to build a stronger global community of entrepreneurship scholars in the coming year.