New England Journal of Entrepreneurship
Special Issue – Transitional Entrepreneurship: The Case of Veteran, Immigrant, Minority, and Economically Distressed Communities
Guest Editors
- Golshan Javadian, Morgan State University
- Anil Nair, Old Dominion University
- Kaveh Moghaddam, University of Houston, Victoria
- Li-Wei Chen, Old Dominion University
- David Ahlstrom, Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Younggeun Lee, California State University, Los Angeles
Entrepreneurship is not only a critical driver of economic growth and social development (Ahlstrom, Chang, & Cheung, 2019; McCloskey, 2010), but also can represent a life-changing transition for most, if not all, of the entrepreneurs themselves. The term
transitional entrepreneurship thus refers to entrepreneurship among members of communities who were able to overcome significant adversity to launch new ventures as pathways to substantive life transitions (Nair & Chen, 2021). Therefore, the goal of this special issue is to draw attention to the entrepreneurial endeavors of the following communities: veterans, immigrants and refugees, women and minorities, individuals from economically distressed communities, and other historically marginalized groups. In doing so, we aim to further examine and describe the concept of transitional entrepreneurship.
Veteran Entrepreneurs. While there are more than 2.5 million military veteran-owned businesses in the USA, they are extremely understudied in the entrepreneurship field (Nair & Chen, 2021). As military personnel are accustomed to situations with life-threatening risks, it is expected that they would be prepared to readily take on the risks associated with staring new ventures. However, the military environment significantly differs from the entrepreneurial environments. While the military environment entails working within a hierarchical structure with clear instructions and procedures, the entrepreneurship process is full of uncertainty and surprises. Such similarities and differences between the military and entrepreneurship environments make the study of veteran entrepreneurs interesting (Cater & Young, 2020). More research is needed in this domain to understand how military experience helps and/or hurts new venture creation process, and how transitions to entrepreneurial careers impact veterans’ lives.
Immigrant and Refugee Entrepreneurs. While some immigrants may have resources to start business and exploit opportunities in their new countries, most immigrants and refugees are forced into necessity entrepreneurship because they lack either qualifications or skills (e.g., language) to enter the job market (Chrysostome, 2010). Besides the language and resource disadvantage, immigrants and refugees do not have sufficient cultural knowledge of the new country and are expected to suffer from liabilities of foreignness (Zaheer, 1995). However, immigrant entrepreneurs are also likely to have opportunities because of their networks in diasporas in the host country that makes it possible for them to get support from their ethnic groups (Moghaddam, Rustambekov, Weber, & Azarpanah, 2018; Simarasl, Moghaddam, & Williams, 2021). In addition to motives, some studies have focused on the impact of culture on opportunity recognition (Moghaddam, Tabesh, Weber, & Azarpanah, 2017b) and other studies have examined business startup processes such as start-up financing (Moghaddam, Aidov, DuVal , & Azarpanah, 2017a) and cross border activities (Drori, Honig, & Wright, 2009). There are still many important questions that needs further exploration. How entrepreneurship influences immigrants and refugees? Does entrepreneurship change social embeddedness of immigrants and refugees? How do venture creation processes of immigrant entrepreneurs differ from that of native-born entrepreneurs?
Women and Minority Entrepreneurs. A wide range of questions have been examined in the context of women and minority entrepreneurship, including motives, success factors, access to capital, and their risk-taking tendencies (Javadian & Modarresi, 2020; Javadian, Opie, & Parise, 2018). It would be interesting to examine how entrepreneurship influences the quality of life of women and minorities. Therefore, more research is needed on the effect of entrepreneurship on various economic and social status of women and racial minority groups.
Entrepreneurs from Economically Distressed Communities. Individuals from economically distressed communities lack not only financial capital, but also social and human capital. Such resource scarcity put them at a disadvantage in the regular job market, hence, entrepreneurship, serves as a viable career choice (Sutter, Bruton, & Chen, 2019). Therefore, we would bring attention to entrepreneurship in, and by members of economically distressed communities and call for examining entrepreneurship in such communities and how it could be a pathway out of poverty and spur economic development.
Submission and Review Process
The submission deadline is October 15th, 2022. Papers will be screened by the guest editors, and those deemed suitable will be sent to at least two reviewers. It is highly encouraged that authors submit their manuscript to the ODU Colloquium on Transitional Entrepreneurship to receive feedback; however, submission to the colloquium is neither a requirement nor a guarantee for publication in the NEJE special issue. Manuscripts must apply the NEJE’s general author guidelines, such as style and paper length. We welcome newly introduced types of articles: Research Note and Practitioner Note. All papers must go through the journal’s online submission portal (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/neje). Authors should select ‘SI: Transitional Entrepreneurship’ option when submitting their manuscript.
Key Deadlines
Submission open: January 15th, 2022
Submission deadline: October 15th, 2022
For any questions, please contact the guest editors Golshan Javadian (golshan.javadian@morgan.edu), Anil Nair (anair@odu.edu), Kaveh Moghaddam (moghaddamk@uhv.edu), Li-Wei Chen (l3chen@odu.edu), David Ahlstrom (ahlstrom@baf.cuhk.edu.hk), or Younggeun Lee (ylee16@calstatela.edu).
References
Ahlstrom, D., Chang, A. Y., & Cheung, J. S. (2019). Encouraging entrepreneurship and economic growth. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 12(4): 178-200.
Cater III JJ, Young M (2020) US veterans as emerging entrepreneurs: Self-efficacy, intentions and challenges. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 25(02): 2050012.
Chrysostome E (2010) The success factors of necessity immigrant entrepreneurs: In search of a model. Thunderbird International Business Review 52(2): 137-152.
Drori I, Honig B, Wright M (2009) Transnational entrepreneurship: An emergent field of study. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 33(5): 1001-1022.
Javadian G, Modarresi M (2020) Examining the Impact of Positive Gender Stereotypes on Women's Venture Creation Intentions: The Mediating Role of Relative Gratification and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy. Journal of Organizational Psychology 20(4): 55-69.
Javadian G, Opie TR, Parise S (2018) The influence of emotional carrying capacity and network ethnic diversity on entrepreneurial self-efficacy. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship 21(2): 101-122.
McCloskey, D. N. (2010). Bourgeois dignity: Why economics can't explain the modern world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Moghaddam K, Aidov A, DuVal C, Azarpanah S (2017a) High-growth entrepreneurial firm funding: a qualitative study of native-born and immigrant entrepreneurs. Venture Capital 19(1-2): 75-94.
Moghaddam K, Rustambekov E, Weber T, Azarpanah S (2018) Transnational entrepreneurship, social networks, and institutional distance: Toward a theoretical framework. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship 21(1): 45-64.
Moghaddam K, Tabesh P, Weber T, Azarpanah S (2017b) The effect of culture on opportunity recognition: a qualitative study of immigrant and native-born entrepreneurs. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 31(2): 309-324.
Nair A, Chen L-W (2021) Transitional Entrepreneurship. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 26(03): 1-11.
Simarasl N, Moghaddam K, Williams DW (2021) Antecedents of business location decisions: the case of aspiring immigrant opportunity entrepreneurs. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 28(7): 1075-1094.
Sutter C, Bruton GD, Chen J (2019) Entrepreneurship as a solution to extreme poverty: A review and future research directions. Journal of Business Venturing 34(1): 197-214.
Zaheer S (1995) Overcoming the liability of foreignness. Academy of Management Journal 38(2): 341-363