Call for Papers
Embracing the Biosphere, Supporting Humanity - A Call to Explore Sustainable Development in Family Entrepreneurship
Family entrepreneurship examines how family relationships and configurations and the original family enterprise influence entrepreneurial practices, processes, and outcomes (Nordqvist and Melin, 2010; Bettinelli et al., 2014; Randerson et al., 2015) at individual as well as collective levels of analysis (e.g., Fletcher, 2010; Brumana et al., 2017; Discua et al., 2020; Estrada-Robles et al., 2020; Di Massis et al., 2021; Waldkirch et al. 2021). Because of family embeddedness (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003), family entrepreneurship is a relevant phenomenon for nurturing business families (Minola et al., 2016), furthering entrepreneurial practices and processes across generations (Basco et al., 2019; Riar et al., 2021), and supporting the communities in which the enterprises operate (Campopiano et al., 2014).
The growing global awareness of the climate emergency, biodiversity loss, inequalities, and social and environmental injustices highlights the importance of entrepreneurial innovations (e.g., Muñoz and Cohen, 2017, 2018). In this context, entrepreneurial innovations strive to create social, environmental, and sustainable value (Zahra and Wright, 2016), and catalyse transformational change (Driver and Porter, 2012), whilst also reduce inequalities (Evansluong et al., 2019) and unsustainable business operations (Dean and McMullen, 2007). Yet, while stakeholders such as communities and the natural environment are acknowledged by prior contributions in family entrepreneurship, they are rarely the focus of scholarly investigations. Families and family enterprises have become more aware of sustainability, especially since the introduction of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in 2016 and the recently launched partnership Family Business for Sustainable Development (FBSD) between the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development and the Family Business Network in 2021.
Hence, an examination of the role of family entrepreneurship and innovation in addressing sustainable development is a phenomenon that merits further theoretical and empirical research to better understand the transgenerational orientation (Woodfield et al., 2017; Sharma and Sharma, 2019), the family engagement with the biosphere (Ramírez-Pasillas and Nordqvist, 2021) and society (Van Gils et al., 2014; Ramírez-Pasillas and Lundberg, 2019), and also the family ownership (Memili et al., 2018) and the long-term orientation of family enterprises (Scherrer and Binz Astrachan, 2018; Baù et al., 2021; Sharma and Sharma, 2021).
Addressing sustainable development implies acknowledging that the climate emergency and changes in the biosphere integrity, as well as the resulting injustices, inequalities, and human rights violations, pose threats to the survival and well-being of humanity while transgressing the social foundation and the planetary boundaries (Raworth, 2012; Steffen et al., 2015). As human and industry activities continue to affect the life and balance of social-ecological systems (Oström, 2009; Westley et al., 2013), difficulties, struggles, and scarcities will continue to rise. When families and family enterprises experience a need to take on a broader responsibility to create social, environmental, humane, or sustainable value, they can encounter difficulties ensuring ecosystem integrity, supporting their communities, and dealing with limited resources (Duran et al., 2016). Investigating how families and family enterprises muddle through difficulties, tradeoffs, or tensions linked to the global sustainability grand challenges, including the UN SDGs can help obtain insights into family entrepreneurial practices and processes (Claire et al., 2019; Ramírez-Pasillas et al., 2021) when relating to the biosphere and their communities.
Sustainable development also comprises coupling humans, animals, and their natural environments in a systemic manner (Liu et al., 2007). Thus, entrepreneurial innovation includes revisiting the connections and tradeoffs between businesses, communities, and the biosphere (Ramírez-Pasillas and Nordqvist, 2021) and developing sustainable for-profit ventures like certified B Corps, non-for-profits, or not-for-profit social ventures like a family-owned foundation (Feliu and Botero, 2016). Entrepreneurial innovation, thus, advocates a shift from a focus on unsustainable and purely commercial goals to a higher purpose. A purpose signifies a blended value approach (McMullen and Warnick, 2016), which balances social, environmental, and economic values (Sharma and Sharma, 2021) through value work (Raitis et al., 2021; Binz Astrachan et al. 2017). Therefore, investigating how families and family enterprises address global sustainability grand challenges, including the UN SDGs in their entrepreneurial innovation efforts, will shed light on different strategies, practices, and the different impacts that are generated as a response to threats faced by humanity when operating outside safe boundaries (Rockström et al., 2009).
Submissions to the Special IssueThis Special Issue welcomes conceptual and empirical contributions and literature reviews that will help extend, build, or test concepts, perspectives, models, and theories that examine sustainable development or the UN SDGs to understand (a) how and why families and family enterprises navigate different contexts, muddle through difficulties, and interact with multiple stakeholders to co-create economically viable entrepreneurial innovations with positive social and/or environmental or sustainable impacts, (b) how entrepreneurial innovations by families or family enterprises embrace the biosphere, multiple stakeholders, and local communities to address the global sustainability grand challenges, including the UN SDGs, (c) how and why families and family enterprises muddle through tensions, difficulties, and tradeoffs to nurture social, environmental and/or sustainable entrepreneurship across generations, (d) how and why families and family enterprises navigate different contexts and interact with multiple stakeholders to co-create a family venture’s social, environmental, humane, or sustainable purpose, and (e) if/how the global sustainability grand challenges, including the UN SDGs trigger interactions between entrepreneurs, the new venture, the original family enterprise, and their communities and nature.
Specifically, we seek contributions from the disciplines at the interface of business administration, sustainable development, sustainability science, and/or climate change science that bring forth new conceptual and empirical advancements in family entrepreneurship.
We welcome manuscripts that examine the following additional research questions (but not restricted only to these questions):
- How do families and family enterprises muddle through increasing difficulties, tensions, and tradeoffs when relating to the biosphere and their communities to promote or invigorate their entrepreneurial innovation? What are the resulting entrepreneurial practices, processes, and outcomes addressing global sustainability challenges, including the UN SDGs?
- What is the role of the climate emergency and changes in the biosphere integrity, as well as the resulting injustices, inequalities, and human rights violations in stimulating transgenerational entrepreneurship?
- How do families and family enterprises transform social and/or environmental injustices into justices through the co-creation of an entrepreneurial innovation?
- If/how do families and family enterprises co-create a sustainable development approach in collaboration with multiple stakeholders, and what are the elements of such an approach? What is the role of nature/biosphere or indigenous communities as stakeholders? What are the resulting entrepreneurial innovations adopted by families and family enterprises as they navigate different contexts?
- How do families and family enterprises build an understanding of the biosphere to co-create solutions for building a safe space? What role do social, humane, and/or environmental issues play in the creation of this safe space? What family configurations engage in this endeavour?
- How/why does the selection of a hybrid venture (i.e., social, environmental, humane, or sustainable venture) shape the entrepreneurial practices, processes, and outcomes for families and family enterprises?
- How/why do families or family enterprises’ values and traditions shape a purpose geared towards sustainable development?
- How do family history, values, goals, and business activities influence social, environmental, humane, or sustainable entrepreneurial innovations?
- How do families and family enterprises co-create blended value in entrepreneurial innovations as they navigate different contexts?
- How do new social, environmental, or sustainable ventures interact with and help transform the original family enterprise?
- How do families and family enterprises shift from an economic purpose to a social, environmental, humane, or sustainable purpose? What role does nature or social issues play in this shift?
Guest Editors
Marcela Ramírez Pasillas, Jönköping International Business School: marcela.ramirez-pasillas@ju.se
Mattias Nordqvist, Stockholm School of Economics: Mattias.Nordqvist@hhs.se
Massimo Baù, Jönköping International Business School: Massimo.Bau@ju.se
Pramodita Sharma, Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont: Pramodita.Sharma@uvm.edu
Sanjay Sharma, Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont: Sanjay.Sharma@uvm.edu
Miruna Radu-Lefebvre, Audencia Business School: mradu@audencia.com
Guidelines
Submission of full papers directly to the Journal by September 1, 2022. The special issue guest editors encourage submission of extended abstracts (max. three pages) by April 15th, 2022 to the corresponding guest editor, Marcela.Ramirez-Pasillas@ju.se. The submission of abstracts is optional.
Special Issue Schedule
September 1st, 2022 — Last day to submit articles for the special issue through the ERD submission system. The system opens 15 days prior to the deadline.
Special Issue Workshop
A virtual workshop will be organized February 15, 2023.To help authors advancing their manuscripts, the Guest Editors of the Special Issue will organize a Workshop. Authors of R&R manuscripts will be invited to present their papers. The presentation at the workshop will not guarantee acceptance of the paper for publication in ERD. Attending the workshop will not be a precondition for acceptance into the Special Issue.