Call for contributions to Edited Volume
on
Artificiality and Sustainability in Entrepreneurship. Exploring the unforeseen and paving a way to the sustainable future
Edited by:
Richard J. Adams, Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship at Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, UK;
Dietmar Grichnik, Institute of Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland;
Asta Pundziene School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania;
Christine Volkmann Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Germany.
Publisher: Springer, FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Prospected publication date: Summer/Autumn 2021
Context and background
In this edited collection, we explore the past, present, and future of artificiality and sustainability in entrepreneurship - the unforeseen consequences and ways to head forward to the sustainable future. In particular, we link artificiality, sustainability and entrepreneurship, and the adaptation that is characteristic of the artificial, with the specific phenomenon of those novel digital technologies that provoke continuous and significant change in our lives and business. While digital entrepreneurship research focuses on digital technology development and management, the book covers processes and mechanisms of sustainable adaptability of entrepreneurs, start-ups’ business logic, and the collaborative behaviours under the mass digital transformation, including the prevalence of Artificial Intelligence.
“The term ‘artificial’ has, in recent years, almost by default, become associated with the science of Artificial Intelligence. Herbert Simon’s ideas, as presented in The Sciences of the Artificial, remind us that the artificial exists as synthesized things – artefacts - which may or may not imitate natural phenomena, and have functions and goals designed in response to the environmental conditions in which it exists. As such, the artificial has special resonance with the concept of entrepreneurialism. Daily, entrepreneurs design novel and adapted products, services, processes, business models, organisational designs, ventures, relationships, collaborations, ecosystems, discourses and practices; these may be considered the artefacts of entrepreneurship.
The core intellectual activity of devising artefacts to attain goals, Simon argued, is to change existing situations into desired states. The sustainability agenda, digital transformation and economic recovery in a post-Covid 19 world indicate possible future desired states. As JG Ballard noted in his novel Empire of the Sun, ‘reality itself is a stage set that can be dismantled literally overnight. Our day-to-day routine, our home life, schools. Nothing is as secure as we like to think it is’.
How has entrepreneurship reacted to such challenges previously? What lessons have been learned and need to be carried forward? How can entrepreneurship and the artefacts of entrepreneurship respond to current challenges? What should be the mind-set of the entrepreneur to assure sustainable adaptation? How to embrace and embed new business logic?
Topics to be covered
Under the topic of artificiality and sustainability in entrepreneurship we aim to explore past, present, and future of the adaptability of the entrepreneurs, business logic and collaborative behaviours to mass digital transformation, and the ways entrepreneurship might contribute to the sustainability of the artificiality. Research might cover, however should not be limited to the topics:
- Sustainability of the value-chains in digital entrepreneurship;
- Phenomenon of the artificiality in entrepreneurship;
- Entrepreneurial mind-sets and digital transformation;
- Dynamic capabilities and entrepreneurialism in environmental sustainability and digital transformation;
- Adaptation and sustainable growth of digital start-ups;
- The effect of digital technology in start-up scaling and sustainable growth;
- The dynamics of value creation and appropriation in digital start-ups across different business sectors;
- Dynamics of the architectures of value-chains in digital entrepreneurship;
- The role of networks and collaborative behaviour in digital entrepreneurship;
- The role of networks and collaborative behaviour in social and environmentally responsible entrepreneurship.
Important Deadlines:
Full chapter submission: 4 January- 31 May 2021
Review process and feedback: June, 2021
Revised chapter submission: 2 August, 2021
Final notification: 16 August, 2021
Questions concerning the submissions may be addressed to all the Editors of the book:
Adams Richard, University of Cranfield, UK, r.j.adams@cranfield.ac.uk
Dietmar Grichnik, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, dietmar.grichnik@unisg.ch
Asta Pundziene, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania, asta.pundziene@ktu.lt
Christine Volkmann, University of Wuppertal, Germany, Volkmann@wiwi.uni-wuppertal.de
Authors are responsible for professional copy-editing of submitted manuscripts
Submission details
For manuscripts, requirements please consult Springer’s Information for book authors & editors:
Manuscript Guidelines (any questions should be sent to ieva.anuziene@ktu.lt )
Full-length chapter submission
Please follow the instructions provided by Springer Manuscript Guidelines
Length of the chapter: 6000-10000 words, single-spaced, 12-point font size, Times New Roman. Pages should be numbered consecutively.
Chapter abstracts are strongly encouraged. These will appear online at Springer Link and other sites and will be available with unrestricted access to facilitate online searching and allow unregistered users to read the abstract as a teaser for the complete chapter. Begin each chapter with an abstract that summarizes the content of the chapter in no more than 200 words.
Keywords: up to 5
Copyright and permissions: The copyright of articles accepted for the book rests with the author(s). Figures that reproduce copyrighted or trademarked visual images or other objects whose design is copyrighted or trademarked can be published only with the permission of the owner of the copyright or trademark. It will be the sole responsibility of the author of the chapter in which the figure appears to obtain this permission or to determine that the image or design is in the public domain.